
COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



THE "EMDEN" 




KAPITANLEUTNANT VON MUCKE 



The "EMDEN" 



BY 

Kapitanleutnant 
HELLMUTH von MUCKE 

TRANSLATED BY HELENE S. WHITE 




RITTER & COMPANY 

BOSTON, MASS. 






Copyright, 191 7, by 
RITTER & COMPANY 

All rights reserved including the translation 
into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian 




THE PLIMPTON -PRESS 
NOEWOOD'MASS'XJ'S-A 



MAY ! I 1917 

©CIA -13 07 21 



FOREWORD 

As Kapitanleutnant von Miicke witnessed 
the "Emden's" final battle from a distance 
only, we have no detailed account of the 
gallant cruiser's last fight. We do know, 
however, from statements made by sur- 
vivors, that, owing to a lack of ammunition 
and the crippling of her steering gear, the 
"Emden" was finally placed at the mercy 
of her foe. She was then run aground 
on the reefs of North Keeling Island 
at so tremendous a speed that the man 
at the wheel was instantly killed by 
the terrific impact. To the enemy's signal, 
calling for surrender, the customary reply 
could not be given, as the long continued 
battle had left but three able-bodied sea- 



vi FOREWORD 

men, charged with this duty, to fulfil it. 
Hereupon the British cruiser fired two 
more broadsides into the stranded ship. 

Finally, at the order of the " Emden's " 
Commander, some of the survivors ran up 
something white. Before the ship was 
surrendered, the German flag was torn 
into shreds and cast into the sea. 

More than two years later the English 
succeeded in salving the "Emden," and 
she is now to fight for the enemy she once 
pursued. 

It was from Tsingtao, the charming 
home port of the German East Asiatic 
squadron, that the "Emden" sailed forth 
upon her last cruise. The Germans, 
regarded this port as the symbol of the 
open door, and of the equal right of all 
nations to enter the markets of the far 
East. In its loss they recognize the fulfil- 
ment of the persistent but covert English 
purpose to deny to Germany all overseas 



FOREWORD vii 

expansion beyond the limit of English 
tolerance. 

Individually and as a nation the Ger- 
mans have accepted the challenge. As 
masters of their destiny and as a liberty 
loving people they are, of course, vastly 
more interested in the overthrow of 
England's latent sovereignty of the world 
than in England's political creed. The 
object of the German desire is to obtain 
habitable colonial territory where an over- 
flowing population may live and remain 
German instead of feeding other nations 
with German blood. This is pointed out, 
as otherwise certain passages in the first 
chapter might seem strangely out of place 
in this story of heroic adventures. 

At the author's request the title he bears 
as an officer in the Imperial German navy 
is retained in the translation. In doing 
his part for his country's defence, he evi- 
dently agrees with Goethe: 



viii FOREWORD 

"The riding heroes on solid land 
Of greatest moment now may be — 
If I but had the full command, 
On Neptune's horse I'd skim the sea!" 

THEODOR J. RlTTER 

Boston, Mass. 
March, 191 7. 



V 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Kapitanleutnant von Miicke Frontispiece 

Commander von Miiller 20 S 

" The Emden " 100 ^ 

Map showing the course of "The Emden". . . 210 v- 



I 

OUR FIRST PRIZE 



THE "EMDEN" 

Chapter I 
OUR FIRST PRIZE 

"All hands aft," shrilled the whistles 
of the boatswain's mate through all the 
ship's decks. Quickly all the officers and 
crew assembled on the after deck. Every- 
one knew what it was for. 

It was at two o'clock on the afternoon 
of the second day of August, 1914, while 
our ship lay far out in the Yellow Sea, 
that Captain von Mueller appeared on 
the poop, holding in his hand a slip of 
paper such as is used for messages by 
wireless. In eager expectancy three hun- 



THE "EMDEN" 



dred pairs of eyes were fixed upon the lips 
of our Commander as he began to speak. 

"The following wireless message has 
just been received from Tsingtao: 'On 
August first, his Majesty, the Emperor, 
ordered the mobilization of the entire 
land and naval forces of the Empire. 
Russian troops have crossed the border 
into Germany. As a consequence, the 
Empire is at war with Russia and with 
France. 

"'And so, what we have expected for 
years has come about. Before war had 
been declared, hostile hordes have violated 
German territory. 

"'For forty-four years the German sword 
has not been drawn from its scabbard, 
although during this time there has been 
more than one occasion when it might 
have been unsheathed for conquest. But 
never have conquests by violence been the 



OUR FIRST PRIZE 



objects of German ambition. In peace- 
able competition, by diligence and labor, 
by commercial and industrial efficiency, by 
high intellectual and educational attain- 
ment, by honesty and reliability the Ger- 
man people have secured for themselves 
a place of honor among the nations. To- 
day the German Empire is an object of 
envy to those who failed to accomplish 
as much. Being convinced of their own 
inability by peaceable methods to com- 
pete successfully with the nation that out- 
ranks them in learning and education, in 
technical and scientific skill, in short, by 
the advanced state of its civilization and 
its culture, they now hope to accomplish 
their purpose by letting loose upon the 
German people the furies of war, and 
by an appeal to the sword to gain the 
end they have failed to obtain by moral 
and intellectual achievement. It now re- 



THE "EMDEN" 



mains for us to show them that the virile 
German nation can successfully meet this 
test of its strength also. 

"'The victory will be no easy one. For 
many years our enemies have been pre- 
paring for this war. To be, or not to be, 
that is the question for our nation today. 
But we shall prove ourselves worthy of 
our fathers, and of our ancient heritage, 
— we shall endure to the end, though a 
world in arms arise against us/ 

"It is my intention to proceed at once 
in the direction of Vladivostok. Our first 
duty is to raid the commerce of the enemy. 
In so far as can be estimated at pres- 
ent, the French and Russian warships are 
assembled in greatest strength in the neigh- 
borhood of Vladivostok. It is therefore 
probable that we shall encounter them. 
In that event, I feel confident that I can 
rely upon my men/ 



>9 



OUR FIRST PRIZE 



Three cheers for his Majesty, the Em- 
peror, rang out over the broad surface of 
the Yellow Sea. Then came the order 
that sent every man to his post, — "Clear 
ship for action." 

And so it had come to pass — the war 
was upon us! The outcry for revenge 
that has been incessantly raised to the 
west of us, and that has been especially 
clamorous ever since Germany ventured 
to retake with the sword territory which, 
since time immemorial, had formed a 
part of the German Empire, but which, at 
the time of her impotence and disruption, 
was wrested from her to gratify French 
lust for conquest — this persistent cry for 
revenge had at last achieved its purpose. 
Again the game of war was to be played, 
and again the leaden dice were to be cast. 
But this time, not merely for the posses- 
sion of Elsass-Lothringen, — much more was 



THE "EMDEN 



to be at stake. As yet, only Russia and 
France were to be faced. But for years 
it has been evident that behind these two 
powers stands another, the enemy of all 
others, one who for centuries has contrived 
to spill the warm red blood of other races 
for the purpose of furthering her own 
interests, — England ! Three decades ago, 
when the French had dared to cross the 
English plans for colonization in Africa, 
they were forced to their knees and deeply 
humiliated at Fashoda. When England 
had become alarmed at Russia's progress 
in the far East, that country's defeat at 
the hands of Japan, in 1904, was brought 
about. Ever since these two rivals were 
thus disposed of, England has directed 
their attention toward seeking compensa- 
tion elsewhere for that which English 
greed for wealth and power denied to 
them in Asia and in Africa. Humbled 



OUR FIRST PRIZE 



France and defeated Russia must be in- 
duced to serve England's purpose to annihi- 
late Germany. In the German Empire, 
strong in the vigor of youth, England 
recognized her most dangerous rival. By 
peaceful methods the English could not 
hope to compete successfully with German 
science and technique, with German com- 
mercial and industrial efficiency. Inch by 
inch the Union Jack has given place in 
the world of commerce to the flag of the 
Empire. In peaceable competition, England 
found herself to be no match for Germany. 
Nor has the venomous slander of the 
Germans, which British cables have carried 
all over the world, accomplished the desired 
end. The English purse is in jeopardy. 
Therefore the old method must be resorted 
to again: "Sink, burn, destroy!'' 

Just how England would achieve her 
purpose was still uncertain. Would she 



io THE "EMDEN" 

continue in her traditional way, and, by 
entangling others, induce them to fight 
her battles for her, thus leaving her free 
to fish in muddy waters? Or would she 
take a hand in the war herself, for fear the 
strength of her credulous and infatuated 
dupes might not prove sufficient, unaided, 
to accomplish the English purpose? No 
righteous cause exists for England to take 
up arms against us. But that has little to 
do with the matter, as the history of the 
island nation attests. Lack of a sufficient 
reason has never deterred England, when a 
desired end was to be obtained. At such 
times, the right and the law have ever 
been matters of supreme indifference to 
England, nor has she ever failed to find a 
mantle of hypocritical righteousness with 
which to clothe her purpose. 

Surely, Lord Derby, one of England's 
ablest statesmen of the nineteenth century, 



OUR FIRST PRIZE n 

understood his own people well when he 
said of them in Parliament: Our conduct 
with regard to other nations is shameful. 
We insist upon a strict adherence to 
international law whenever it is to our 
advantage to do so; when otherwise, we 
disregard it utterly. The history of marine 
law, or, I might say, marine lawlessness, 
is an indelible witness to the unbridled 
selfishness and greed of the English people 
and of their government. 

Thus Lord Derby. 

There is not a nation on earth that 
has not suffered the consequences of Eng- 
lish selfishness and greed, — Spain, whose 
flourishing commerce and colonial empire 
were annihilated by the English sword, 
and who still must endure her thorn in the 
flesh, Gibraltar; Holland, whose pros- 
perity was drained by the English vampire, 
and who has England to thank for the 



i2 THE "EMDEN 



position of insignificance which has re- 
placed her former greatness; Denmark, 
whose fleet was attacked and carried off 
by the English in 1807, at a time when the 
two countries were absolutely at peace, 
and Copenhagen bombarded and destroyed 
by fire before ever there was a thought of 
war; China, which in 1840 was overrun 
with war because the Chinese refused to 
buy opium of the English merchants; 
Egypt, which England wrested from the 
Turkish Empire, and whose people now 
are compelled to get their dearly bought 
bread from England, to increase that 
country's tariff receipts, while, at her 
orders, the land, in this granary of the 
ancient world, is planted with cotton in- 
stead of grain, to the end that England 
may be independent of America with 
regard to this product; India, where pesti- 
lence and famine-typhus, and an enforced 



OUR FIRST PRIZE 13 

payment of an annual tribute of one and 
one half billions are the blessings bestowed 
by English culture, and against which the 
crushed and exploited people of India 
strive in vain; the Boer States, that were 
coveted and therefore subjugated by Eng- 
land because of their gold and diamond 
mines; Turkey, upon the dismemberment 
of which England has long been bent; 
France, humiliated at Fashoda; Russia, 
against whom Japan was incited ; Portugal, 
now no more than England's vassal; Italy, 
to whom territorial expansion in Africa 
was denied; even America, where England 
made the attempt to forbid the construc- 
tion and fortification of the Panama Canal, 
and where the public is not allowed to 
learn of world events except through Eng- 
lish sources and according to English 
interpretation. Having lost her political 
hold on America, England fell back upon 



i 4 THE "EMDEN" 

the principle: "Ignorance is the chief 
factor in intellectual conflicts as it is in 
physical strife between nations," and forth- 
with proceeded to take advantage of her 
cables in order to surround the "free 
nation" by such an atmosphere of false- 
hood that today it is impossible for 
Americans to form an unbiassed opinion, 
and they can but echo the sentiments of 
England. With respect to the formation 
of opinion and judgment, the Americans 
are in subjection to England intellectually, 
quite as much as are politically the races 
that England has subjugated with the 
sword. 

As for English truthfulness, Thomas 
Carlyle portrays it aptly when he says: 
Englishmen no longer dare to believe the 
truth. For two centuries they have been 
surrounded by falsehood of every kind. 
They regard the truth as dangerous, and 



OUR FIRST PRIZE 15 

everywhere we see them striving to modify 
it by bidding a lie go with it, the two 
harnessed together. This they term the 
safe middle path. 

And so there is hardly a race on the face 
of the earth that is not wearing shackles, 
political or moral, that England's un- 
bounded selfishness and greed have forged. 
With the German Empire only have Eng- 
land's methods failed. Therefore, France 
and Russia, together with the regicides of 
Sarajevo as fitting henchmen and accom- 
plices, were now to be employed to achieve 
England's purpose for her. Should they 
prove insufficient, however, then England 
herself would take a hand. Some plausible 
excuse for making war upon Germany 
will be trumped up by England to satisfy 
her own people and the world in general. 
Hypocritically righteous reasons for her 
actions England has never been at a loss 



16 THE "EMDEN" 

to find. Today the English purpose will 
hardly be expressed as candidly as it was 
two hundred years ago when the destruc- 
tion of Dutch commerce was the object 
desired. At that time, when the men 
who wished to make war upon Holland 
were seeking for a "reason" for doing so, 
the English admiral exclaimed: "Reasons? 
Why should we look for reasons? What 
we want is more of the commerce that 
the Dutch now control. That is reason 
enough." 

Now it is Germany's turn. As early as 
1907, an English publication, "The Satur- 
day Review," said: England's prosperity 
will never be assured until Germany has 
been destroyed. Were Germany to be 
wiped from the face of the earth to-morrow, 
there is not an Englishman in the world 
who would not be the richer for it on the 
day after to-morrow. Nations have fought 



OUR FIRST PRIZE 17 

for years over territory, or over the right 
of succession, — why then should they 
not go to war to secure commerce that is 
worth so many billions a year to them? 

Yes, the English will surely join our 
enemies, but not until such a time as 
seems most favorable to them. Whether 
now, or later, whether by an immediate 
participation in the war, or not until 
towards the end, when Germany has been 
weakened, we cannot tell. But attack us, 
they surely will. For this is England's 
war, to which she has been inciting the 
nations for years past. The last free 
country is now to feel the onslaught of 
England's uncurbed selfishness and greed. 

"Guns ready!" "Torpedo service ready!" 
"Engines and auxiliary engines ready!" 
"Leak service ready!" "Steering service 
ready!" "Signal and wireless service 
ready! 



)5 



THE "EMDEN 



Rapidly, one after the other, the reports 
from all over the ship were now coming in, 
and demanded my attention to the exclu- 
sion of all further thought and reflection. 
A quick tour of inspection through the ship 
assured me that all was in readiness, and 
I could report to our Commander, "The 
ship is clear for action." 

At a speed of fifteen nautical miles we 
were proceeding toward the Strait of Tchu- 
sima. When darkness came on, the war 
watch was begun on the "Emden," which 
is done in the following manner: Half of 
the men of the crew remain awake and on 
duty at their posts, — at the guns, at the 
searchlights and lookouts, in the torpedo 
room, in the engine and fire rooms, etc., 
while the others are allowed to go to sleep 
with their clothes on, and ready, at a 
moment's notice, to get to their posts. 
The commander of the ship takes charge 



OUR FIRST PRIZE 19 



of one of these watches, and the other one 
is in command of the first officer. 

After passing through the Strait of 
Tchusima, the "Emden" steered north- 
ward. There was no moon, and the night 
was pitch black. It was too dark to see 
anything even in our immediate vicinity. 
We were, of course, travelling with all 
lights screened. Not a ray of light was 
allowed to escape from the ship, nor the 
least bit of smoke from her funnels. There 
was a moderate sea running, and the 
water was unusually bright with phosphor- 
escence. The water churned up by our 
screws stretched away behind the ship in 
a shimmering wake of light green. The 
waves dashing high up against the bow, 
and the water tumbling and breaking 
against the sides, splashed the whole ship 
with a phosphorescent glitter, and made 
her appear as though she had been dipped 



2o THE "EMDEN" 



into molten gold of a greenish hue. Occa- 
sionally, there appeared in the water large 
shining spots of great length, so that a 
number of times the lookouts reported 
undersea boats in sight. 

At four o'clock in the morning the port 
war watch, which I commanded, was re- 
lieved. The Commander now took charge. 
The day was just dawning. I had just 
gone to my cabin, and had lain down 
to rest, when I was wakened by the shrill 
call of the alarm bells and the loud 
noise of many hurrying feet. "Clear ship 
for action," the order went echoing from 
room to room. In an instant everyone 
was at his post. Were we really to be so 
fortunate as to fall in, on our very first 
day, with one of the Russian or French 
ships that had been reported to us as being 
in the vicinity of Vladivostok ? 

By the trembling of the ship we could 




COMMANDER VON MULLER 



OUR FIRST PRIZE 21 

tell that the engine had been put on high 
speed. In the gray of the early morning 
we sighted, ahead of us and a little to 
the right, a vessel somewhat larger than 
our own, which was also travelling with 
screened lights, and looked like a man of 
war. Our Commander ordered a course 
toward her at high speed. Hardly had 
she seen us when she turned hard about, 
took the contrary course, and ran away 
from us, the dense column' of smoke rising 
from her funnels indicating that her engines 
were working at maximum power. The 
pursued ship took a course directly toward 
the Japanese Islands, lying about ten 
miles distant. A black cloud of smoke 
streamed behind her, rested on the water, 
and, for a while, hid her from sight entirely. 
We could see nothing of her but the mast 
tops, and so found it impossible to discover 
the nature of the vessel with which we 



22 THE "EMDEN 



were dealing. That she was not a neutral 
was evident enough from her behavior. 
Therefore, after her with full speed ! 

Meanwhile, daylight had come. The 
signal: "Stop at once!" was flying at our 
foremast. When this demand was not 
complied with after a reasonable time, we 
fired a blind shell, and when this also 
failed to have the desired effect, we sent 
a quick reminder in the form of a couple 
of sharp shots after her. The fleeing ship 
could no longer hope to reach the neutral 
waters of Japan. When our shots fell 
into the water close beside her, she stopped, 
turned, and set the Russian colors in all 
her topmasts. So, on the very first night 
after the war had begun, we had taken our 
first prize. It was the Russian volunteer 
steamer "Rjesan." In time of peace she 
had plied as a passenger steamer between 
Shanghai and Vladivostok. She was now 



OUR FIRST PRIZE 23 



to be armed with guns and to serve 
as an auxiliary cruiser. She was a speedy 
and very new ship, built in the German 
ship yards of Schichau. 

In the sea that was running, the 
"Emden" and her prize rolled badly. It 
was therefore no easy matter to get the 
cutter, that was to carry the prize crew 
from the "Emden" to the "Rjesan," into 
the water. There was danger that it would 
be pounded to pieces against the sides 
of the ships. However, everything passed 
off satisfactorily. In a short time we saw 
the officer of the prize crew, followed by 
a number of men, all armed with pistols, 
climbing up the gangway ladder. The 
Russian flag was hauled down, and in its 
place the German colors were run up. 

As the steamer was one that could serve 
our own purposes excellently well — she 
could be transformed into a very good 



24 THE "EMDEN" 

German auxiliary cruiser — our Com- 
mander decided not to destroy her, but 
instead to take her to Tsingtao. At a 
speed of fifteen miles we made our way 
southward. Behind us, in our wake, fol- 
lowed the "Rjesan." A commanding officer 
with a prize crew of twelve men remained 
aboard of her, to make certain that the 
service of the ship and the engines, etc., 
would be according to our wishes. 

Twice the Russian captain of the "Rje- 
san" made a vehement protest against the 
capture of his ship, saying that she was a 
peaceable merchantman, that to seize her 
was an unprecedented violation of law, 
and that he could not understand it at all. 
However, when we asked him why, if that 
was the case, he had tried to run away 
from us, he had nothing more to say. 
His knowledge of maritime law was evi- 
dently nothing to boast of. Our Com- 



OUR FIRST PRIZE 25 

maader sent him word tfeat his case would 
be decided at Tsingtao, whither we were 
going. 

[ The "Emden" did not, however, steer 
the most direct course to Tsingtao. Hardly 
had the Russian captain of our prize ob- 
served this, when he protested afresh, 
demanding to be taken to port by the 
shortest route. The reason for this was, 
of course, his apprehension that, on the 
course we were following, we would be 
likely to meet other Russian ships that 
were in the vicinity. And, it must be 
admitted, this was our intention. To be 
sure, we had no information with regard 
to the course that the Russian ships were 
taking, but, judging from the violent re- 
monstrances of the captain, we concluded 
that there was good prospect that we 
should come up with one or two of them 
before long. Much to our regret, however, 



26 THE "EMDEN" 

not one came in sight. Naturally, no 
regard was given to the captain's protests, 
and our Commander sent him word in- 
forming him that the "Emden's" course 
was no concern of his, and reminding him 
of what are the usual consequences of 
insubordination on board ship. After that, 
we heard nothing more from our Russian 
friend. He probably consoled himself after 
his own fashion. 

From the newspapers, we had learned 
that the main body of the French fleet, 
consisting of the armored cruisers "Mont- 
calm" and "Dupleix," besides a number of 
torpedo boat destroyers, was lying some- 
where off Vladivostok. With these ships 
the "Emden" must not be allowed to 
come in contact by daylight. As we were 
rounding the southern extremity of Corea, 
the lookout in the top suddenly sang out, 
"Seven smoke clouds in sight astern!" 



OUR FIRST PRIZE 27 

To make quite sure of it, the Commander 
sent me aloft. I, too, could distinctly 
see seven separate columns of smoke, 
together with the upper structure of a 
small vessel, the one nearest to us, just 
above the horizon. Upon hearing my re- 
port, the Commander gave orders to change 
our course. We swept a wide circle, and 
so avoided the enemy. Without meeting 
with hindrance of any kind, we arrived at 
Tsingtao. 

On the way we caught up an interesting 
wireless message. The Reuter Agency, so 
celebrated for its rigid adherence to facts, 
was sending a telegram abroad, informing 
the credulous world that the "Emden" had 
been sunk. How many sympathetic people 
must have shuddered as they read, — and 
so did we, of course ! 

During the following night, our prize 
occasioned us some further trouble. Nat- 



28 THE "EMDEN" 

urally, her lights, as well as our own, had 
to be screened. It was a much easier 
matter to give orders to that effect, how- 
ever, than to see to it that they were carried 
out. On the steamer were several women 
passengers, who, from the outset, were 
filled with mortal terror as to what the 
barbarous Germans would do with them. 
Most of them were fat Russian Jewesses. 
Every few minutes they would turn on the 
electric lights in their cabins, so that 
finally there was nothing left for the 
officer of the prize crew to do but to have 
the electric light cable in the engine capped. 
Then they managed to find lights else- 
where, but this also could not, of course, be 
tolerated. 

Upon our arrival at Tsingtao, the "Rje- 
san" was overhauled. The ship was an 
entirely new one, and so had not been in 
the hands of the Russians long enough to 



OUR FIRST PRIZE 29 

give them opportunity to spoil the engine 
which was of first-class German work- 
manship. Our prize could still run at a 
speed of seventeen nautical miles. So she 
was equipped with guns, was manned by 
a German crew, and continued her career 
as the German auxiliary cruiser "Cor- 
moran." 

At Tsingtao preparations for war were 
in full swing. The harbor had been mined, 
the forts all along the water front had been 
manned, and vigorous work was under 
way in the harbor itself. In the moles lay 
a large number of German steamers. Some 
of them were being fitted up as auxiliary 
cruisers, while others were being loaded 
with coal in order to serve our squadron 
as coal tenders. Our Commander found 
orders awaiting him from the Admiral of 
our squadron, Count von Spee, who, with 
the armored cruisers, " Scharnhorst " and 



30 THE "EMDEN" 

"Gneisenau," and the small cruiser, "Niirn- 
berg," was in the South Pacific, steering 
northward. The "EmdenV orders were 
to join this squadron at a stated point of 
meeting in the South Pacific. 



II 

SOUTHWARD BOUND 



Chapter II 
SOUTHWARD BOUND 

Aboard our ship there was much to be 
done, and it kept us busy throughout that 
day and the following night. Coal had 
to be taken on to the limit of our capacity, 
and as many supplies as possible of all 
kinds stored away on board. The ship's 
personnel had to be supplemented, and 
other final preparations for war made. 
At sunrise on the following day the "Em- 
den" left Tsingtao in the company of a 
large number of German ships, all bound 
for the south, where they were to join the 
Admiral's squadron. 

In the harbor unbounded enthusiasm 
reigned. Everyone ashore was envious of 
us. If the war was to be with France and 
Russia only, Tsingtao could hardly be 



34 THE "EMDEN" 

expected to take any part in it. For the 
fortress itself, no concern whatever was 
felt, as, from the ocean side, it was pro- 
tected by good and sufficient defences that 
would make a seizure by war ships im- 
possible. To be sure, the land defences, 
in so far as they were such at all, consisted 
of very small and modest earthworks, suf- 
ficient only to serve as protection against 
an assault by infantry. But an attack from 
the land side was not to be expected, as 
Tsingtao was entirely surrounded by neu- 
tral Chinese territory. 

With fair weather and a smooth sea the 
"Emden" slipped out of the harbor moles. 
Our band played "The Watch on the 
Rhine." The entire crew was on deck, 
singing as the band played. Cheers rang 
from ship to shore, and back again. Every- 
one was confident and in high spirits. 
In a small way it was a repetition of the 



SOUTHWARD BOUND 35 

scenes which, on a grand scale, manifested 
the nation's devotion to country in Ger- 
many when it was learned that war was 
inevitable. 

Cautiously the "Emden" made her way 
between the mines which barred the en- 
trance to the harbor. The sun had just 
risen. Behind us lay Tsingtao, the gem 
of the far East, brightened by the golden- 
red beams of the young day — a picture 
of peace. Along the shore could be seen 
the long line of neat and tastily built 
houses, the whole scene dominated by the 
height on which stood the signal tower. 
In the background rose the brown hills, 
their sombre color relieved by the fresh 
green of the young trees with which they 
had been planted. From out the delicately 
pink mist of the early morning rose the 
church steeple bearing the cross aloft. 
Farther to the right were to be seen the 



36 THE "EMDEN" 

trim, well-kept barracks, the government 
buildings, and the bathing beach, — the 
whole picture rimmed by the white line 
of the surf that broke upon the rocky shore 
with the incessant rising and falling of the 
sea. Glittering diamonds and pearls were 
strewn with a lavish hand by old Neptune 
on the hem of earth's fair garment. Na- 
ture's charm and German industry had 
combined to produce a picture of bewitch- 
ing beauty in the midst of this otherwise for- 
bidding and rugged region. As we gazed, 
there was not one of us who was not con- 
scious of a strange tugging at his heart. 
But duty called with an imperative voice. 
Therefore, farewell to the fair scene we 
were leaving behind us! For us, it was, 
"Onward, to the South!" 

We were accompanied by the "Marko- 
mannia," the other ships taking different 
courses. The "Markomannia" remained 



SOUTHWARD BOUND 37 



our faithful companion for a number of 
months. 

On our way to the South Pacific we 
learned, by wireless, of the rupture in the 
relations between Germany and England, 
and of the latter's declaration of war. 
It was not unexpected by us, and if we 
were surprised at all, it was that this 
wirepuller among the nations, who had so 
often plunged the others into misery, was 
now actually going to risk her own bones 
in serious conflict, for the first time in a 
hundred years. A few days later we 
learned of Japan's remarkable ultimatum, 
without its causing us any special anxiety. 
It might as well all be done up at one and 
the same time, was the general feeling 
among us. 

When the "Emden" left Tsingtao, Eng- 
land and Japan had as yet not declared 
war against Germany. Nevertheless, soon 



38 THE "EMDEN" 

afterward, we read in some English news- 
papers that our "escape" from Tsingtao had 
been made possible only by the fact that 
we flew the English flag while passing a 
blockading Japanese cruiser, and that we 
greeted this quasi brother-in-arms with 
three cheers. 

We wondered whether this report might 
have had its origin in the circumstance 
that English and Japanese cruisers had 
already been ordered to Tsingtao, before 
ever a declaration of war had been made. 

In any case, the story is absurd. For, 
aside from the fact that under no condi- 
tion would we have dishonored our brave 
ship by flying the English flag, we would 
never have passed the Japanese cruiser 
without sending her a torpedo as a greeting. 

'Tis strange how the practice of sys- 
tematic and continued misrepresentation 
warps the judgment. 



SOUTHWARD BOUND 39 

On the twelfth of August, in the evening, 
we had reached the vicinity of the island 
where we were to join our cruiser squadron, 
and soon we fell in with some of the ships 
that were serving as outposts. As we 
approached the group of assembled war 
ships, we saw the stanch cruisers "Scharn- 
horst" and "Gneisenau" lying in the midst 
of them, each with a coal tender alongside, 
and engaged in coaling. To the left lay 
the slender "Niirnberg," also busy with 
taking on coal. Distributed about the 
bay, many larger and smaller auxiliary 
ships and tenders of the squadron could 
be seen. The "Emden" was ordered to 
an anchorage close beside the flagship, in the 
right-hand half of the bay. Rousing cheers 
were sent from deck to deck, as we passed 
by the other ships, and soon our anchor 
rattled seaward, and to the bottom, — it was 
to be the last time for many a long day. 



40 THE "EMDEN" 

Our Commander went aboard the flag- 
ship to report to the Admiral of the squad- 
ron, and to submit to him the proposal 
that the "Emden" be detached from the 
squadron, and be sent to the Indian Ocean, 
to raid the enemy's commerce. 

On the following day the squadron 
steered an easterly course, the ships keep- 
ing a long line, one behind the other, with 
all the coal tenders bringing up the rear. 
The Admiral had, for the present, reserved 
his decision with regard to our Command- 
er's proposition, and we were all impatient 
to learn what it would be. At last, 
toward noon, signal flags were seen running 
up on the flagship. They read "'Emden' 
detached. Wish you good luck!" Sweep- 
ing a wide curve, the " Emden" withdrew 
from the long line of war ships, a signal 
conveying her Commander's thanks for 
the good wishes of the Admiral fluttering 



SOUTHWARD BOUND 41 

at her mast head. There was still another 
signal from the commanding officer of the 
squadron, ordering the " Markomannia " 
to attend the "Emden." Ere long we 
had lost sight of the other ships of the 
squadron, which now were steering a course 
contrary to our own, and we all knew full 
well that we should never meet again. 

It was a long journey to our new field 
of action. That we had no information 
with regard to our relations with Japan 
was a source of annoyance, as we did not 
know whether we were or were not at war 
with that country. The German wireless 
apparatus at Station Jap had already been 
destroyed by the English. After a week's 
run we met at sea the German steamer 
"Princess Alice." We took off a few 
reservists, and then sent her on to Manila. 
A little later, far out at sea, we met the 
little German gunboat "Geier." As our 



42 THE "EMDEN" 



signal connections had been destroyed, 
she had no news of the war to give us, in 
so far as England and Japan were con- 
cerned. We remained together for but a 
short time, only just long enough to ex- 
change what news we each had. Then 
the "Geier" passed on eastward, on her 
way to join the squadron, while we con- 
tinued in the direction of our future hunting 
ground. 

These days were strenuous ones for our 
men, as the war watch was continued 
without intermission, in order that the 
ship might be ready at a moment's notice 
for any emergency. There was no oppor- 
tunity to give the crew even a short season 
of rest. For us, there was not one harbor 
of refuge where we might lie free from 
danger. 

Very regretfully we allowed a Japanese 
steamer, that we met on the way, to pro- 



SOUTHWARD BOUND 43 

ceed undisturbed, as we did not know, at 
the time, whether or not we were at war 
with Japan. In passing, the Jap greeted 
us most obsequiously, dipping her flag 
especially low, in the supposition, no doubt, 
that we were an Englishman. We left 
her salute unanswered. 

To reach the open sea, our course now 
led us through a number of narrow water 
ways. These straits swarmed with fishing 
boats and other small sea craft. The 
nights were bright with moonlight, which 
made it possible to recognize the "Emden" 
at a considerable distance. To meet so 
many boats was a source of anxiety to our 
Commander, who expressed himself as 
apprehensive that our presence in these 
waters, and our probable course also, would 
be noised about by some of these vessels. 
All English ships have either two or four 
funnels, whereas the " Emden " had three. 



44 THE "EMDEN" 

The happy thought came to me that much 
might be gained if the "Emden" were 
provided with a fourth funnel. So I quickly 
ordered a number of deck-runners to be 
fetched out. Deck-runners are strips of 
heavy sail-cloth about two meters in width, 
and, under ordinary circumstances, are 
used to protect the linoleum deck. Up 
above, a wooden post was fastened at the 
proper place in front of our forward funnel, 
and then our counterfeit funnel was placed 
in position around it. Viewed from the 
side, it made an excellent impression. 
From the front, it must be admitted, its 
appearance left much to be desired. It 
lacked the well-rounded proportions of its 
fellows, for it was only a few millimeters in 
diameter. However, in the hurry to have 
it ready for use in the coming night, nothing 
better could be put together. 

I suggested to our Commander that, 



SOUTHWARD BOUND 45 



given more time, I could produce a much 
better looking fourth funnel, and he ap- 
proved of the undertaking. So, on the 
following morning, we set to work. Out 
of wooden laths and sail-cloth we soon had 
constructed a funnel of most elegant ap- 
pearance, and, when it had been placed in 
position, the "Emden" was the exact 
counterpart of the British cruiser "Yar- 
mouth." It was with this precise object 
in view that we had given the funnel an 
oval shape, as I was aware that the "Yar- 
mouth" carried such an one. Our tender, 
the "Markomannia," was then sent out to 
the one side of us, and, with signals, she 
gave us directions as to how we could 
improve the position of our fourth funnel. 
We then placed marks on the light steel 
ropes which served to hoist the funnel into 
position, so that, at any time of the day or 
night, and at a moment's notice, our 



46 THE "EMDEN 



counterfeit funnel could be neatly and 
properly placed. 

In this way, by the end of the first week 
in September, we had got as far as the 
Bay of Bengal. For a period of about 
five days an English man-of-war, most 
likely the "Minotaur," kept a course close 
beside our own, which we learned from the 
frequent wireless messages that we caught 
up. Gradually, her messages became less 
distinct, and then ceased altogether. At 
no time had she come within sight of us. 



Ill 

ON THE CHASE 



Chapter III 
ON THE CHASE 

It was not until the night of September 
tenth that our work began in real earnest. 
A steamer came in sight, and we approached 
her very cautiously, so as to give her a 
closer inspection. Quietly, and with lights 
screened, we crept up behind our intended 
victim. Our Commander ordered an ap- 
proach, to within one hundred meters of 
the steamer, which was peacefully and 
unsuspectingly proceeding on her course, 
and, after the manner of merchantmen, 
was paying little heed to anything except 
what was ahead of her and showing lights. 
Suddenly, through the stillness of the 
perfectly calm night, rang out our challenge 
through the speaking trumpet: 



50 THE "EMDEN" 

"Stop at once! Do not use your wire- 
less! We are sending a boat!" 

The steamer did not seem to realize 
what was meant by this order. Perhaps 
she did not expect, here in the heart of 
Indian waters, to run across an enemy's 
man-of-war. Or she may have thought 
it the voice of a sea god, and therefore no 
concern of hers. At any rate, she con- 
tinued on her way undeterred. So, to 
explain the situation, we sent a blank 
shot whizzing past her. This made an 
impression, and, pell mell, her engines 
were reversed — we truly regretted the 
start we had given her dozing engineers — 
and with her siren she howled out her 
willingness to obey our order. 

One of our cutters, with a prize crew in 
it, glided swiftly to water, and thence to 
the steamer, of which we thus took posses- 
sion. An unpleasant surprise was now in 



ON THE CHASE 51 



store for us, for soon there came flashing 
back to us a signal given by one of the 
men of our prize crew: "This is the Greek 
steamer, 'Pontoporros.'" 

Our first steamer, and a neutral! Now 
it would be but a few days before the 
entire coast would know that a German 
war ship was abroad in the Indian Ocean. 
The very best of prizes might escape us 
on account of it. But, as good fortune 
would have it, our classic captive was 
loaded with contraband. She was carrying 
coal to British ports. She was therefore 
most welcome, to supplement the "Marko- 
mannia," whose coal bunkers were already 
half empty, and we gladly added her to 
our squadron, which now consisted of 
three ships. They were not long to re- 
main the only ones, however. 

The "Pontoporros" was loaded with 
coal from India, the very dirtiest coal in 



52 THE "EMDEN" 

■ the world. I had hoped, as our store of 
supplies diminished, to be able to replenish 
it from the cargoes of our prizes as we 
captured them. It was now six weeks 
since the "Emden" had put in at a port, 
and in all that time we had, of course, not 
had an opportunity to take on supplies of 
any kind. On board ship the first officer 
is, in a way, the housekeeper, for it is his ( 
duty to attend to all the details of fitting 
out the ship with supplies of every descrip- 
tion. Before running out from Tsingtao, 
I had, in so far as possible, packed the ship 
with everything that I had thought neces- 
sary or useful. But now, during the last 
few days, it had developed that our supply 
of soap was getting alarmingly low. The 
usually very generous quantity of soap 
allowed each man had therefore shrunk 
to proportions that approached the vanish- 
ing point, and it looked as though in a 



ON THE CHASE 53 

couple of weeks washing would be classed 
among the luxuries of life aboard the 
"Emden." 

I had therefore, in jest, entreated our 
Commander to capture, as our first prize, 
a ship loaded with soap, instead of which 
we now got this cargo of dirty Indian coal. 
My disappointment was so great that I 
could not refrain from reproachfully calling 
our Commander's attention to it, and, 
with a laugh, he promised to do his best 
toward providing us with the much needed 
soap. And he kept his word. 

On the morning of the eleventh of Sep- 
tember, only a few hours after we had 
made the first addition to our squadron, 
there appeared, forward, a large steamer, 
which, in the supposition that we were an 
English man-of-war, manifested her delight 
at meeting us by promptly running up a 
large English flag while still a long way off. 



54 THE "EMDEN" 

We could not help wondering what sort of 
expression her captain's face wore when 
we ran up the German colors, and politely 
requested him to remain with us for a 
while. 

The steamer hailed from Calcutta, had 
been requisitioned to serve as an English 
transport for carrying troops from Colombo 
to France, and was fitted out with an 
abundance of excellent supplies. A very 
pleasing surprise awaited us, and one for 
which we were indebted to the English 
native love of cleanliness, a virtue which 
no one will be inclined to dispute. In 
this case it had manifested itself in storing 
away so much soap in the ship, that for 
us, with our small crew, it was sufficient 
to supply our needs for at least a year, 
even though we should be spendthrift in 
the use of this indispensable requisite of 
modern civilization. 



ON THE CHASE 55 

We also found aboard the ship a very 
handsome race horse. By a shot through 
the head, this noble creature was spared 
the agony of death by drowning. But our 
sympathy was hardly sufficient to ex- 
tend to all the many mounts for artillery, 
which occupied as many neatly numbered 
stalls that had been built into the ship. 
They had to be left to become the prey 
of sharks a half hour later. The ship's 
crew was sent aboard our "junkman/' 
The ship that did "junkman's" duty for 
us was either a recently captured vessel 
that was travelling with nothing but ballast 
in her hold, and consequently was of little 
value, or else one that was carrying neutral 
cargo, the sinking of which would have 
entailed unnecessary expense, as, when 
the war is over, an indemnity has to be 
paid for all neutral cargo destroyed. Our 
"junkman" always followed the"Emden," 



56 THE "EMDEN 



until there were as many people gathered 
aboard her as she could carry. When 
full, she was discharged, to steam away 
to the nearest port. At this time the 
"Pontoporros" was doing "junkman's" 
service. 

During the next few days our business 
flourished. It was carried on in this way: 
As soon as a steamer came in sight, she 
was stopped, and one of our officers, accom- 
panied by ten men, was sent aboard her. 
It was their duty to get the steamer ready 
to be sunk, and to arrange for the safe 
transfer of the passengers and crew. As 
a rule, while we were still occupied with 
this, the mast head of the next ship would 
appear above the horizon. There was no 
need of giving chase. When the next 
steamer had come near enough to us, the 
"Emden" steamed off to meet her, and 
sent her a friendly signal by which she was 



ON THE CHASE 57 

induced to join our other previously cap- 
tured ships. Again an officer and men 
were sent off, boarded her, got her ready 
to be sunk, and attended to the transfer of 
all hands aboard her, etc.; and, by the 
time this was accomplished, the mast 
head of the third ship had usually come 
in sight. Again the "Emden" went to 
meet her, and so the game went on. 

There were times when in this way we 
had gathered about us from five to six 
steamers. Of these, the first arrival would 
be showing only the funnel above water; 
the next was probably up to the deck 
under water; the condition of the third 
one still appeared to be normal, although 
a slight swaying from side to side showed 
that she, too, was getting full. The pas- 
sengers of these captured ships made 
surprising acquaintances on board our 
" junkmen. " 



58 THE "EMDEN 



In this way we cleaned up the whole 
region from Ceylon to Calcutta. In addi- 
tion to our old companion, the "Marko- 
mannia," we were now accompanied by 
the Greek collier " Pontoporros," which, 
in the meanwhile, had relinquished the 
role of "junkman" to the "Cabigna." 
The latter was an English steamer carrying 
an American cargo, the destruction of 
which would have resulted in nothing but 
unnecessary charges. 

The "Cabigna" continued with us for 
several days, although she, the "Marko- 
mannia," and the "Pontoporros" were not 
the only companions of the "Emden" 
during that night. We had captured more 
prizes, whose destruction, however, was 
deferred to the following day in considera- 
tion of the passengers, because of the 
darkness, and the high seas running. All 
told, we had six attendants that night. 



ON THE CHASE 59 



Three of these disappeared in the sea on 
the coming morning, and the "Cabigna" 
was discharged to land her passengers. 

Aboard the "Cabigna" were the wife 
and little child of the captain. The posi- 
tion at sea, where the other steamers had 
been sent to the bottom, was so far distant 
from the nearest shore that it would have 
been quite impossible for any boats to 
have reached land. Before the captain of 
the "Cabigna" had been told that he would 
be allowed to proceed, and in the assump- 
tion that his ship also was to be sunk, he 
begged that he might be allowed to take a 
revolver with him for the protection of 
his wife and child. This is a typical case 
to illustrate the absurd ideas entertained 
by the British public as a result of the 
persistent slander of the Germans in which 
the English newspapers have indulged. 
According to the representations of the 



6o THE "EMDEN" 

English press it would have been all of a 
piece with German custom if we had set 
these women and children out in open 
boats, hundreds of miles out at sea, to 
leave them there to starve. 

When the captain was informed that it 
was not our purpose to destroy his ship, 
he was overcome with joy. I, myself, 
was aboard his ship for several hours, and 
he could not find words sufficient to express 
his gratitude, begging me to convey his 
thanks to our Commander, and finally 
handing me a letter to deliver to him. 
In it he thanked us once more for the 
"humane" treatment which he and his 
family had received at our hands, saying 
that the officers and men of the prize crew 
placed in command of his ship had all 
conducted themselves like gentlemen, that 
he could not find sufficient words of praise 
for the deportment of the Germans, that 



ON THE CHASE 61 

he would never forget the consideration 
shown him by our Commander, who, he 
said, had treated him with as much kindli- 
ness and courtesy as it is possible for one 
seaman to extend to another in an emer- 
gency, even in time of peace, and he further 
assured us that he would do all in his power 
to have the truth made public through the 
English newspapers. 

I had a long conversation with the 
captain's wife, also, and she expressed 
sentiments much like those contained in 
her husband's letter to our Commander. 
When she discovered, from something I 
said, that my oil-skins were going to pieces, 
she pressed me to accept her husband's. 
Besides this, upon learning that our supply 
of smoking tobacco was getting low, she 
urged us to take as many cigarettes and as 
much smoking tobacco with us as we could 
carry. These, she declared, were but tri- 



62 THE "EMDEN" 



fling gifts in comparison with the gratitude 
she felt. 

It is hardly necessary to say that we 
took with us neither the tobacco nor the 
oil-skins. 

At the time that the "Cabigna" was 
discharged, her deck was full of passengers, 
all people from the steamers we had cap- 
tured. At our order, "You may pro- 
ceed ! " three cheers — " Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 
Hurrah!' 5 — rang back to us, one for the 
Commander, one for the officers, and one 
for the crew of H. M. S. "Emden," in 
which every person on the crowded deck 
joined. How many souls the "Cabigna" 
carried can best be estimated from the 
description of her entrance into Calcutta, 
as given in an English newspaper, which, 
some time later, fell into our hands. It 
stated that no one would have supposed 
the "Cabigna" to be a merchantman, 



ON THE CHASE 63 

but rather would have taken her to be a 
training ship, so crowded was her deck. 
There were, at the time, about four hundred 
persons aboard the ship. 

In the further progress of our activities 
we never failed to get three cheers from our 
discharged "junkmen," as they departed 
with their collection of passengers from 
captured steamers. Hence it would appear 
that it is customary with Englishmen to 
cheer barbarians who murder little children 
and wantonly slay men and women. 

This seems a fitting place to speak about 
the attitude taken by the Englishmen when 
we captured their ships. Most of them 
behaved very sensibly. After they had 
recovered from the first shock of surprise, 
they usually passed into the stage of un- 
restrained indignation at their government, 
at which they swore roundly. With but 
one exception, they never offered any 



64 THE "EMDEN" 

resistance to the sinking of their ships. 
We always allowed them time enough to 
collect and take with them their personal 
possessions. They usually devoted most 
of this time to making certain that their 
precious supply of whiskey was not wasted 
on the fishes. I can say with truth that 
seldom did we send off a wholly sober lot 
of passengers on any one of our "junkmen." 
In general, they had an eye open to "busi- 
ness," and made every reasonable effort to 
make certain that the advantages of Ger- 
man commerce raiding should be extended 
to the ships of their competitors among the 
steamship lines. For instance, upon leav- 
ing his ship, the captain of an English 
steamer would say something like this: 
"Tell me, have you run across the steamer 
'X'?" to which we would reply, "No." 
"What," the captain would then exclaim, 
"you haven't seen her! Why, she steers 



ON THE CHASE 65 

a course only seven miles to the south, 
and is only two hours behind me!" 

In this way we usually knew the name 
of the next ship to appear, long before her 
mast head had come in sight above the 
horizon, and, moreover, it gave us oppor- 
tunity to avoid annoying meetings with 
neutrals. 

One captain was especially amusing. 
His was the unenviable duty of taking a 
bucket-dredger from England to Australia. 
No seafaring man can help sympathizing 
with the unfortunate who has to conduct 
one of these rolling tubs, with a speed of 
not more than four nautical miles at best, 
all the way from Europe down to Australia. 
And so, from a purely humane standpoint, 
we could fully appreciate this English 
captain's joy at being captured. Rarely 
have I seen anyone jump so high for joy. 
He must have been a past master in the 



66 THE "EMDEN" 

art of jumping to be able to keep his feet 
in spite of the terrible rolling of his ship. 
Tears of gratitude coursed down his 
weathered cheeks as he exclaimed, "Thank 
God, that the old tub is gone! The 
five hundred pounds I was to have for 
taking her to Australia were paid me in 
advance." 

A seafaring man is always strangely 
moved by the sight of a sinking ship. 
We, who heretofore had always done every- 
thing within our power to help any ship in 
distress, were no exception, and never 
failed to experience a peculiar sensation 
when our duty compelled us to destroy 
the ships, and we saw them sink. It was 
usually accomplished in this way: 

One of our men was sent down into the 
engine room of the captured vessel to 
unscrew the cap to one of the large pipes 
that open outward. Hereupon the sea 



ON THE CHASE 67 



would instantly rush into the engine room 
in so powerful a stream that it forced its 
way in, in a column of water twice a man's 
height, and with a circumference of a man's 
girth. The water-tight door leading into 
the boiler room was always opened and 
fastened back, so that it had to remain so. 
In this way we made certain that two large 
compartments of the ship would fill with 
water. In addition to these two, we opened 
two more to the sea, by means of blasts, 
which were always set off at night, or else 
by two well placed shots. For a while 
the ship would then lunge from side to 
side, as though uncertain as to what was 
expected of her under these unusual cir- 
cumstances. Then she settled deeper and 
deeper into the water, until the sea washed 
the railing. The waves swept greedily 
over the deck of the vessel doomed to 
destruction. Unseen hands seemed to be 



68 THE "EMDEN" 

pulling and hauling to draw their victim 
more quickly down into the deep. A 
shiver ran through the whole structure, as 
though the ship were shaking with fear, 
or as if she were making one last, desperate 
effort to escape from her impending fate. 
Then there was evident submission to the 
inevitable, and the final collapse. The 
bow dipped into the water, the masts came 
flat upon it, and the screws and rudder 
rose high in air. From the funnels came 
a last puff of smoke and escaping steam. 
For a moment the ship stood on end, 
upright in the water, and then shot like 
an arrow into the deep. The last resisting 
hatches and bulkheads of the stern were 
burst asunder by the force of the com- 
pressed air, which, where it escaped through 
the ventilators and side windows, forced 
the water out with it in jets like fountains, 
that rose several meters high, and were 



ON THE CHASE 69 



scattered in spray by the pressure of the 
escaping air. A swirl of rushing waters 
where the ship had disappeared; then the 
sea closed over her, and she was seen no 
more. A moment later, as a last token 
from the vanished ship, a few loose spars 
and beams, a boat or two, and other like 
wreckage rose to the surface. Long heavy 
timbers shot upright out of the water, like 
arrows from a bow, jumping to a height of 
several meters above the surface of the 
sea. When all was over, a large oil spot 
marked the place where the ship had 
disappeared, and a crushed boat, a few 
life-preservers, timbers, and the like floated 
about. Then the "Emden" steered toward 
the next mast head to come in sight. 

The Englishmen were always very grate- 
ful because we allowed them every oppor- 
tunity to secure and take with them all 
their personal possessions. For this they 



7 o THE "EMDEN" 

gave us full credit in their newspapers. 
It is probably not too much to say that 
toward the close of the year 19 14 the 
"Emden" was the most popular ship in 
East Indian waters. Generally speaking, 
the English showed little understanding of 
the war. It is not with them, as it is with 
us, a people's war, and to a great extent 
they look upon it with indifference. This 
makes it possible for them to view the 
achievements of their friends, and their 
foes as well, from the sporting side of the 
situation, and so accounts, in part at least, 
for the rather remarkable circumstance 
that our Commander and his ship received 
praise and acclamation from all the news- 
papers of India. The "Gentleman Cap- 
tain" was the name by which he was 
known, and in the newspapers it was said 
that he "played the game" and was 
"playing it well." 



ON THE CHASE 71 

We always tried to be very considerate 
of all passengers who were at all civil — 
and there were but few who were not so — 
and rendered them every service possible, 
frequently at the cost of much valuable 
time. I am reminded of one instance in 
particular when, just before a steamer 
was to be destroyed, a young Englishman 
came to me, begging me to save for him 
his only possession in the world, and one 
to which he was wholly devoted, — a 
motor wheel. It was no easy matter to 
find the wheel among all the many articles 
that were packed in the hold of the ship, 
but we got it out, and, together with its 
happy owner, it was safely carried in the 
steam launch, which made an extra trip 
for the purpose, over to the "junkman," 
where both wheel and owner were comfort- 
ably stowed away. 

But there was another Englishman who 



72 THE "EMDEN" 

did not fare as well at our hands. He was 
a particularly aristocratic gentleman, the 
"traffic master" at Calcutta, and was on 
his way to Colombo with a large steamer 
which he was intending to turn over to 
the government for use as a transport ship 
for troops. He was not permitted to carry 
out his intention, and over this he was very 
wroth. It has been my experience that 
when it comes to a matter of business, all 
Englishmen, even those of a most amiable 
temper, are very easily irritated. While 
the ship was being made ready to be sent 
to the bottom, this gentleman was engaged 
in packing his numerous and large patent 
leather trunks, which he piled in a great 
heap up on deck. Then, with a high and 
mighty air, as befitting one of the British 
rulers of the sea, he paced the bridge, his 
pipe in the corner of his mouth, and his 
hands in the pockets of his large checked 



ON THE CHASE 73 

trousers. He cast scornful glances down 
at us "Germans." To his pile of trunks 
he paid no further attention, seemingly 
taking it for granted that, when the proper 
moment arrived, we would wait upon him 
to get orders as to what was to be done 
with them. 

Finally all hands had left the ship, 
taking with them their various belongings, 
and he was the only person still on board. 
We were ready to sink the ship, but the 
traffic master, in "splendid isolation" and 
big checked trousers, with his pipe in his 
mouth, was still pacing the ship's bridge. 
He was informed that it was high time for 
him to leave the ship. His only reply 
was a mute gesture, — for which he was 
obliged to take his hand out of his pocket, — 
a jerk of his thumb in the direction of his 
pile of trunks that, in solitary grandeur, 
was now the sole remaining ornament of 



74 THE "EMDEN" 

the deck. He evidently assumed that his 
royal gesture would be all-sufficient to 
remind us of our duty, and that we would 
instantly stand ready to obey the orders 
of the "traffic master of Calcutta" with 
regard to his trunks. 

Our men misunderstood him, however, 
and calmly assured him that he need have 
no anxiety for his trunks, for, judging 
from recent experiences, they would sink 
fast enough without any assistance from 
them, and that there was reason to believe 
that the same fate would overtake him, if 
he did not leave the ship at onCe. The 
last boat was about to put off. 

Hereupon the traffic master came down, 
first of all from the height of his English 
superiority, and then from the height of 
the ship's bridge. With his own hands 
he saved at least the smallest one of his 
collection of trunks, and, perspiring with 



ON THE CHASE 75 

the exertion, carried it off with him as he 
left the ship. Our men followed him with 
their hands in their trousers' pockets, 
and a cigarette in the corner of their 
mouths. 

The store of provisions with which we 
started out had, of course, long since come 
to an end. But, thanks to the kind fore- 
thought of the English, the steamers we 
captured were always so well stocked with 
canned goods, put up by the best of English 
firms, that it was fortunate that our men 
were blessed with good appetites, else it 
would have been difficult for them, in this 
respect, to have carried out one of the 
first rules of warfare, viz. that under all 
circumstances the enemy's stores must be 
destroyed. In this connection we de- 
monstrated, by sufficient and agreeable 
experiment, that conserves and other like 
delicacies are excellent food for sailors, 



76 THE "EMDEN" 

and need not be omitted from their rations 
on account of the liquor in which they are 
put up. 

In the vicinity of Calcutta we had an 
undesired meeting with a steamer by the 
name of "Loredano." It was not at all 
necessary for her to run up her flag to 
establish her nationality, for the dirt, that 
was everywhere in evidence, proclaimed 
her from afar to be an Italian. We were 
obliged to allow this neutral ship to proceed 
on her way, since a close inspection failed 
to reveal anything of the nature of contra- 
band. It happened that she arrived on 
the scene of action just at a time when a 
collection of ships was about to start on 
a course for the bottom of the sea. When 
the last of these ill-fated steamers had 
disappeared, and the "Emden" was leav- 
ing for elsewhere, we could see, on look- 
ing back, that the Italians were eagerly 



ON THE CHASE 77 

engaged in fishing up some floating bales 
of tea, a part of a large cargo of tea that 
one of the steamers we had just sunk was 
carrying. We wondered whether our 
Italian friends hoped to find their contents 
to be macaroni. We were not at all dis- 
posed to grudge them the fruits of their 
fishing, but were very far from approving 
their later conduct, for on the following 
day this "neutral" steamer undertook to 
send out wireless messages announcing 
to all shipping in the surrounding waters 
that the "Emden" was near. This was 
a violation of international law, which 
prohibits neutrals from participating in 
or interfering with any act of war. 

When we had garnered all that the Bay 
of Bengal here had to offer us, a circum- 
stance which we learned from the fact 
that day after day not a ship came in 
sight, we decided to seek another field of 



78 THE "EMDEN" 

action, and betook ourselves to the other 
side of the Bay, toward Rangoon. Here 
our first misfortune awaited us, — there 
were no ships abroad. That all shipping 
was being held in the harbors on our account 
was the explanation, but this we did not 
know until later, when we read it in the 
newspapers. 

Nevertheless there was one happy result 
to be placed to the credit of our reputation? 
in that we found it an easy matter to 
persuade a Norwegian steamer temporarily 
to assume the role of "junkman" for us, 
and we could thus rid ourselves of the last 
of our undesired guests. 

Because of our detour to Rangoon, we 
had been seen by no one for the whole of 
one week. In wise forethought for the 
welfare of their subjects, the discreet British 
government authorities in India utilized 
this interim to gladden the hearts of their 



ON THE CHASE 79 

patiently waiting countrymen by officially 
announcing to them that the "Emden" 
had at last been destroyed by one of the 
sixteen ships that were hunting her, and 
that shipping could therefore be resumed 
without fear of further disturbance. Natu- 
rally, but unfortunately for us, we could 
not know of this at the time, but learned 
it later from the newspapers. 

As no merchantmen made their appear- 
ance in the waters we were ranging, we 
returned to our former hunting ground, 
along the east coast of the Indian peninsula. 
Our Commander decided to put the oil 
tanks at Madras to the test. On the 
eighteenth of September, in the evening, 
the "Emden" entered the harbor. It so 
happened that this was the day after the 
one on which the joyful tidings of the 
"EmdenV destruction had been officially 
announced. To celebrate the happy occa- 



80 THE "EMDEN" 

sion, a large company had assembled for 
dinner at the Club. As we were not aware 
of this, it was hardly our fault that the 
"EmdenV shells fell into the soup. Had 
we known of the dinner party, we would, 
of course, gladly have deferred our attack 
until another day, as it is the part of 
wisdom never to exasperate the enemy 
unnecessarily. A due regard should always 
be shown for sacred institutions, and dinner 
is an institution with regard to which the 
English are always keenly sensitive. 

We approached to within 3000 meters 
of Madras. The harbor light was shining 
peacefully. It rendered us good service 
as we steered toward shore, for which we 
again take this opportunity to express our 
gratitude to the British Indian govern- 
ment. A searchlight revealed to us the 
object of our quest, — the oil tanks, painted 
white and ornamented with a stripe of 



ON THE CHASE 



red. A couple of shells sent in that direc- 
tion, a quick upleaping of tongues of 
bluish-yellow flame, streams of liquid fire 
pouring out through the holes made by 
our shots, an enormous black cloud of 
dense smoke, — and, following the advice 
of the old adage, "A change is good for 
everybody," we had sent several millions' 
worth of the enemy's property up into the 
air, instead of down into the sea, as here- 
tofore. 

It seems that shots were fired after us 
from Madras, although, at the time, we 
did not know where the shells came from. 
There were not many, however, and they 
were poorly aimed. The English news- 
papers said of us in this connection that, 
when we were fired at, we quickly put out 
all our lights, and, turning tail, got away 
in all haste. To this I would say that, as 
a matter of course, we made our approach 



82 THE "EMDEN" 

to Madras without lights of any kind; 
furthermore, that neither our Commander 
nor myself were at the time aware that 
we were being fired at, and that the shots 
were observed only by the officers at the 
stern of the ship. It had not entered our 
minds, therefore, to run from the firing. 
In so far as our lights were concerned, 
our tactics were just the reverse of those 
that were ascribed to us. As soon as we 
had fired the necessary number of shots, 
we lit up the ship, that is, we made a point 
of showing as much light as possible at 
her stern, while we took a northerly course. 
Then, after a sufficient time had elapsed, 
we shut off all lights and steered south- 
ward. 

The flames at Madras illumined our 
course for a long while. On the following 
day, when we were ninety nautical miles 
distant from Madras, we could still see a 



ON THE CHASE 83 

dense cloud of black smoke rising from the 
burning oil. 

Past Pondicherry, and around the island 
of Ceylon, we continued our course, steadily 
steering westward to reach the other side 
of India, and honor that coast with our 
presence. 

As we learned from the newspapers some 
time later, our attack upon Madras resulted 
in a general exodus of the European popu- 
lation from the coast region into the 
interior of the country. Furthermore, as 
a result of it, the English instituted a 
searchlight service all along the coast, 
that is, all night long searchlights played 
over the whole area of water lying just 
beyond the ports. This solved a good 
many navigation problems for us, and 
again we would express our belated thanks 
to the efficient British government authori- 
ties of India. 



84 THE "EMDEN" 

»i,, - f iiiii i inii i iym i nMB i w " ■" ™ M I1 '" 1 ' 1 ' "' L ■ ■■■ ——— b^ ■—— »—i ^— — » — w— 

On the twenty-sixth day of September 
the "Emden" lay just outside of the port 
of Colombo. As we were cruising back 
and forth, suddenly, in the path of the 
searchlight, appeared a dark shadow that 
roused our lively interest. It looked rather 
dangerous at first, but, upon closer in- 
spection, appeared more to our liking. 
It was an English steamer, crammed up to 
her very throat with sugar. Her captain 
was so exasperated at the idea of being 
captured right in the path of the search- 
lights of his own home port, which had 
been fortified for defence, and actually 
within range of the guns of the British 
forts, that he attempted to defy our orders. 
For him the unhappy consequence of this 
ill-advised burst of patriotism was that he 
was not allowed time enough to look for 
so much as a handkerchief to take with 
him. Within five minutes the entire crew 



ON THE CHASE 85 

of the steamer was taken off her, and 
housed aboard our "junkman/' The cap- 
tain and his engineer received the distinc- 
tion of being temporarily assigned to a 
cell aboard H. M. S. "Emden." Ten 
minutes later the sugar cargo was adding 
sweetness to the supper of all the fish in 
the surrounding water. 

Later, we read in the newspapers the 
most incredible pirate tales which this 
captain had told of the "Emden." Al- 
though admitting that he had been well 
treated, he nevertheless complained that 
the respect due his standing had not been 
shown him. We wondered whether he had 
expected the "Emden's" commander to 
relinquish his cabin to him. Moreover, 
he spoke very disparagingly of the "Em- 
den's" condition in so far as cleanliness 
was concerned. He said she was not only 
dirty, but scratched and dented as well. 



86 THE "EMDEN" 

To this accusation we are obliged to plead 
guilty. To be unintermittently at sea 
for weeks, to take on coal from other 
steamers at sea, and carry it in such quan- 
tities that it has to be stored on deck, is 
apt to leave its marks on a ship. Had 
I known beforehand that we were going 
to have so distinguished a guest aboard, 
my pride, as first officer of the ship, 
undoubtedly would have induced me to 
make strenuous efforts to have the ship 
cleaned and freshly painted for his special 
benefit. 

In addition, this critical gentleman said 
of us that the men of our crew looked 
starved and wore an air of dejection. To 
this I can but say that it would be doing a 
gross injustice to the provisioning of the 
English ships we had captured to say that 
our men looked hungry. And their air of 
dejection must have impressed our guest 



ON THE CHASE 87 

so forcibly while they were executing their 
best hornpipes for his benefit to such tunes 
as "That was in Schoneberg in the lovely 
month of May," or "Snuten und Poten," 
played by the ship's band at the regular 
after-dinner concerts. 

Later, after our unwilling guest had 
left us, and was on his way, aboard our 
next "junkman" that was sent off with a 
full load, he may not have fared as well as 
he did on the "Emden." The officer of 
the prize crew that remained on board the 
"junkman," up to the moment when she 
was discharged, told us that the officers 
of the defunct sugar steamer were furious 
with their captain, saying that, whereas 
he was fully insured, they were not, and 
therefore his foolish show of resistance had 
cost them all they owned. When the 
captain came on board the "junkman," 
his officers were standing at the gangway 



88 THE "EMDEN" 

ladder, with sleeves rolled up, waiting to 
receive him. He may have had reason to 
wish himself back on the " Emden." 

Meanwhile the coaling question had 
come to be a source of annoyance to us. 
Our faithful "Markomannia" had no more 
coal to give us. To be sure, our prize, 
the "Pontoporros," with her cargo of coal 
from India, was still with us. But this 
Indian coal is far from being desirable 
fuel, as it not only clogs the fire kettles 
with dirt, but, while it gives out a minimum 
of heat, it sends forth a maximum of smoke, 
and so our prize was not an unmixed joy 
to us. However, this vexed coal question 
was happily solved for us by the English 
Admiralty in a most satisfactory manner. 
Before many days had passed, a fine large 
steamer of 7000 tonnage, loaded with the 
best of Welsh coal, en route for Hong 
Kong, and destined for their own use, was 



ON THE CHASE 89 

relinquished to us by the English in a 
most unselfish manner. 

So, for the present, we were most gener- 
ously supplied with the best of fuel, and 
all further anxiety on this account was 
dismissed to the uncertain future. The 
captain of our new coal-laden prize seemed 
to have no scruples with regard to trans- 
ferring himself, together with his ship, 
into German service. Willingly and faith- 
fully he cooperated with the officer of 
the prize crew that was, of course, 
placed in command of his ship, all 
the while cheerfully whistling "Rule, 
Britannia." 

In the meantime, even the English 
government itself had become convinced 
that the destruction of the "Emden" 
had, after all, not been accomplished. So 
another order to cancel all sailings was 
issued. There was, therefore, no reason 



go THE "EMDEN" 

for the "Emden" to remain in these waters 
any longer. So our Commander decided 
to devote this interim of enforced idleness 
to giving the "Emden" the attention that 
her long continued cruise had made very 
necessary. The ship's bottom was espe- 
cially in need of a cleaning. So we turned 
her nose to the south. 



IV 
THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 



Chapter IV 
THE FLTING DUTCHMAN 

We knew quite well that sixteen hostile 
ships were in pursuit of us, — British, 
French, and Japanese. We never had 
any information with regard to the position 
of these ships, nor of their character, which, 
after all, could matter very little to us, 
since the "Emden" was the smallest and 
least formidable of all the war ships in 
the Indian Ocean. There was not a hostile 
cruiser, that she was likely to meet, that 
was not her superior in strength. That 
the "Emden's" career must soon be cut 
short was therefore a prospect of which 
everyone aboard her felt certain. Many 
hounds are certain death to the hare. 

Even should the inevitable encounter be 
with a hostile cruiser that was not much 



94 THE "EMDEN" 

more powerful than the "Emden" herself, 
she would nevertheless sustain injuries, 
and the ship's personnel suffer loss sufficient 
to oblige us to abandon our present activity. 
There was not a port where we could put 
in to make repairs, and vacancies that 
might occur in the personnel could not be 
filled in any case. Our Commander had 
set this aspect of affairs before us, sharply 
and clearly, at the very outset of the 
"Emden's" career, pointing out that the 
only future ahead of the "Emden" was to 
inflict as much damage as possible upon 
the enemy before she herself should be 
destroyed, which, in any event, could be 
but a question of time. 

That our foes were always round about 
us, and at times very near, we learned 
from the wireless messages which they were 
constantly exchanging. Although these 
gave us no definite information, as they 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 95 

were in secret code, they nevertheless 
revealed to us, by their greater or less 
distinctness, the distance between us and 
the ship that was sending the messages. 
This, to be sure, was no great gain, as the 
enemy might be in any direction from us. 
A manoeuvre on our part, for the purpose 
of avoiding the enemy, could be to little 
purpose therefore. By such an attempt 
we might, instead of eluding the foe, have 
run straight into the enemy's arms. 

It has been frequently said by the 
English that it was wholly due to her great 
speed that the "Emden" remained afloat 
as long as she did. This is not the case. 
Aside from the fact that the ship's bottom 
was so heavy with barnacles, etc., that the 
"Emden" could not run at her highest 
speed, she could at no time make more 
than eleven nautical miles on an average, 
for the very good reason that the coal 



9 6 THE "EMDEN" 

tenders, upon which she was dependent 
for fuel, could travel no faster. Moreover, 
a greater speed would have profited us 
little. Whereas, at a speed of eleven 
miles, we found it possible to avoid a 
hostile encounter, we might, by the greater 
rate of twenty miles an hour, have rushed 
straight upon the enemy. 

However, the wireless messages we caught 
up, as we came near to a hostile ship, did 
tell us something, — they revealed to us 
the nationality of the ship that was sending 
them. For there was a distinguishable 
difference between the wireless messages 
sent by the ships of our various foes, — 
those sent by the English were unlike the 
French, and these, in turn, differed from 
the Japanese or Russian, if, indeed, the 
latter ever got so far as to use a wireless 
apparatus at all. 

During these days of raiding, our life on 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 97 

board ship was much as it had been in 
times of peace. Undoubtedly there were 
a few more lookouts on duty at night, 
and, of course, guns and torpedoes were 
ready for use at a moment's notice, both 
by day and by night. The "Emden's" 
Commander spent most of his time on the 
bridge, where comfortable chairs had been 
placed for his convenience, so that he 
could sleep there, and be ready instantly 
for any emergency. His days were chiefly 
devoted to the study of marine charts, 
sailors' handbooks, and other like sources 
of information. In long hours of careful 
preparation the plans were here developed 
that, when carried out, resulted in the 
"Emden's" remarkable achievements. 

The devotion of the "Emden's" crew to 
their Commander was touching in the 
extreme. The men appreciated the high 
qualities of their leader, were proud of 



g8 THE "EMDEN" 

their ship, and gloried in its successful 
career. If, at any time when they were 
singing, or were otherwise noisy, the word 
was passed along, "The Commander is 
tired," they would become instantly quiet. 
At a word of encouragement from him 
the men would accomplish some truly 
wonderful feats in connection with diffi- 
cult undertakings, such as coaling at sea 
under most adverse conditions, and in 
spite of extreme fatigue. Many a time, 
while making the rounds of the ship, I 
have heard them talking about their 
"Captain," and the tenor of their conversa- 
tion was usually expressed in a final re- 
mark, such as, "Yes, our Commander is 
fine at it!" 

In the officers' mess, also, life went on 
much as it did in days of peace. To be 
sure, the comfortable and cozy appearance 
of the rooms was a thing of the past. All 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 99 

woodwork had been removed, and every- 
thing of inflammable material, such as 
curtains, and the like, had been banished. 
Ammunition was constantly being trans- 
ported through the mess, and other work of 
a like nature was going on there, both by 
day and by night. The gun that had been 
mounted in the officers' living room had 
to be kept in readiness for use at any 
moment. The officers who were not on 
duty, and therefore at a particular station, 
slept in hammocks up on the poop when 
the weather was fair, or, if it rained, they 
occupied mattresses or hammocks in the 
officers' mess, all of them together. To 
undress was a luxury in which we no longer 
indulged. Everyone had to be ready to 
get to his post at a moment's notice. 

The pleasantest hours of our life on board 
were always those spent in reading the 
newspapers taken from captured steamers. 



ioo THE "EMDEN" 



They were the bridge that spanned the 
gulf that yawned between us and the rest 
of the world. Even though all the news 
we received came through the medium of 
the British press, nevertheless we managed 
to extract some semblance of truth from 
out the network of lies, more especially so 
after we had had a longer experience with 
the reports sent out by the Reuter News 
Agency. For instance, we found it very 
reassuring to discover, by consulting the 
map, that the "retreat of the Germans from 
France," which the Agency had declared 
to amount "almost to a rout," had pro- 
ceeded in a westerly direction. Nor did 
we allow ourselves to be much disturbed 
by the fact that when we added up the 
amazing figures that announced the Ger- 
man losses, their total amounted to con- 
siderably more than the entire population 
of Germany. 



■>4-£-r ■ 



A 



tf^-V; 




w 
Q 

w 

w 
HI 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 101 

i 

To the newspapers of India we were 
indebted also for information concerning 
the "Emden's" achievements, and we were 
astonished at the way in which they re- 
garded the whole matter. They seemed 
to look at it wholly as though it were a 
kind of sport we were engaged in, — poked 
fun at their own war ships which, in spite 
of their numbers, had failed to capture the 
"Emden," spoke of our bombardment of 
the Madras oil tanks as though it were a 
huge joke, made our Commander an honor- 
ary member of the principal club of Cal- 
cutta, and indulged in a large number of 
"'Emden' yarns." These were of so ab- 
surd a character that no one would have 
thought of offering them, as actual oc- 
currences, to any reading public except 
one of as little judgment in such matters 
as the English are. It will be illuminating 
to quote one or two typical ones as examples. 



102 THE "EMDEN" 

An Indian newspaper published the story 
told by the captain of a merchantman, 
who claimed to have met the "Emden" 
without having been captured by her. 
That any faith was placed in even so much 
of the story is in itself evidence of the 
credulity of the British reading public, for 
the captain of an English steamer that 
came in contact with the "Emden" never 
got away with his ship. The captain's 
story was as follows : — 

It was at night, and I was steering 
toward the Sandhead lightship, but failed 
to find it where I looked for it. Before 
long, however, I saw the pilot boat, which 
threw her searchlight on us. (I must 
explain that the pilot steamers of this 
region are, as a rule, equipped with search- 
lights for the purpose of attracting incoming 
vessels to themselves.) I steered my ship 
in the direction of the pilot boat, but was 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 103 

surprised to find that the distance between 
us did not diminish, and that the pilot, 
instead of approaching, was running away 
from me. I ordered my engineer to drive 
the fires to the limit, and to work the 
engine at maximum speed. In spite of 
all this, the difference between us remained 
the same. I puzzled my brain over this 
unusual conduct on the part of the pilot. 
Before I could arrive at any conclusion, 
however, and to my utter amazement, the 
supposed pilot began to navigate in circles, 
small at first, but growing larger and 
larger all the time. Like mad I raced after 
her, and tried to overtake her by steering 
a short cut on a chord of the circle. The 
signal I sounded with my steam whistle 
remained unnoticed. I failed to overtake 
the pilot boat. After a half hour's mad 
chase after her, the pilot steamer stopped 
playing her searchlight, and left me staring 



104 THE "EMDEN" 

foolishly into the darkness. Later, I 
learned that the supposed pilot steamer 
was none other than the "Emden." 

This was the captain's story. Angelic 
simplicity! 

Another "Emden" yarn was printed by 
a Calcutta newspaper, and was to this 
effect : — 

One day an urgent wireless message was 
received by the government authorities, 
saying that an English cruiser, coming from 
Singapore, had met the "Emden," and in 
the pursuit of her had used up every bit 
of coal in the bunkers, and was now keeping 
her engines going by burning all available 
material, such as beds, wardrobes, furniture 
of every kind, etc., in her endeavor to reach 
a port on the coast of India. She urgently 
asked that several thousand tons of coal 
be forwarded immediately to the port she 
hoped to reach. The devoted and ener- 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 105 



getic government authorities at once under- 
took vigorous measures to comply with 
the request, and then sent the message on 
to the next government station, with the 
order to pass it along. In their eagerness 
to participate in anything that might 
promote the interests of the government, 
the officials at this second station sent the 
message on to the next one, where those in 
charge, also filled with a desire to do some- 
thing, decided to give immediate orders 
to a coal company, which, in the mean- 
time, had been swamped with orders from 
all the stations where the message had 
been previously received. Eager to make 
the most of this unusual opportunity for 
business, the coal company set to work at 
once to accomplish something. Hundreds 
and hundreds of coolies were hired ; moun- 
tains of coal were loaded into cars that 
were quickly procured. Day and night 



106 THE "EMDEN" 

the work went on without intermission. 
In the shortest time possible train after 
train, piled high with the much desired 
black diamonds, was rolling away, at the 
enormous speed of forty kilometers (about 
twenty-five miles) an hour, toward the 
port where the cruiser was expected to 
put in. Here, also, eager preparations were 
in progress, so that the cruiser might coal 
as quickly as possible. No time must be 
lost in the endeavor to catch the "Emden." 
To the great surprise — and delight — - 
of the coolies, to the equal degree of aston- 
ishment, but less delight, of the railroad 
officials, harbor master, and residents of the 
port, and to the utter chagrin of the coal 
company and the government authorities, 
no British cruiser put in an appearance. 
After a while, this mixed-up state of affairs 
began to clear. The Indian government 
had discovered the key to the situation. 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 107 

The wireless message must have come 
from the "Emden"! How she could have 
managed to send it in the English secret 
code, in which the telegram was worded, 
the British government failed to explain 
to the credulous public. 

Of "'Emden' yarns" such as these 
there was an untold number. On board 
ship we kept a scrap-book in which they 
were all preserved, but this, unfortunately, 
was lost, together with much that was of 
higher value. 

Amusement of a different nature was 
afforded the officers' mess by our "war 
cats," as we called them. On the day 
before we left Tsingtao a cat had come 
on board, and so had come along with us. 
In course of time, this cat experienced the 
joys of motherhood. Lying in my ham- 
mock one morning, I opened my eyes upon 
a charming scene of family life. Just be- 



io8 THE "EMDEN 



neath me, a little to one side, on a mattress 
on the floor of the deck, lay Lieutenant 
Schall, sleeping the sleep of the just. Close 
beside him, on the same mattress, lay the 
cat, with a family of five newly born kittens. 
After I had quickly wakened the other 
officers who were sleeping near, so that 
they might enjoy the sight of this peaceful 
domesticity, we poked Lieutenant Schall 
until he, too, opened his eyes upon the 
scene. At first he did not seem to share 
our pleasure in it, however, but, with a 
muttered oath, hurried off to the washroom. 
In conformity to the laws that decide 
nationality, the war kittens were declared 
to belong to our mess. In a vacant corner, 
where a sofa had once stood, we set up a 
little wooden house, and made a bed in it 
for the cat and her kittens. Thanks to the 
devoted care of all the ship's officers and 
the men who served them, the kittens 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 109 

prospered wonderfully. The instinct by 
which they were prevented from killing 
themselves with overeating roused our 
admiration. In a short time the tiny 
creatures were able to venture upon short 
excursions away from their bed. There- 
after, all of us, when moving about the 
mess, picked our steps most cautiously, 
because the kittens were always most 
likely to be just where we were about to 
place our feet. There was special need of 
this precaution at night. 

When this consideration for our little 
guests had reached a point where it threat- 
ened to interfere with certain nightly ma- 
noeuvres, the cat house was placed within 
an enclosure. Later, when the tiny things 
had developed into cunning creatures, they 
used to scamper about on our afternoon cof- 
fee table, where they engaged in the most 
amusing wrestling matches. To knock over 



no THE "EMDEN" 

the pictures on my writing desk, and to 
investigate the contents of my waste basket 
formed some of their chief amusement. 

So that we might be able to distinguish 
them, one from the other, we tied different 
colored ribbons around their necks. One 
day we decided that they must be 
christened. We named them for the 
steamers that we had captured. So we 
had a little Pontoporros, a small Lovat- 
Indus, and a little Cabigna and King Lud 
capering about on our table. Only for 
the last and tiniest kitten did we find it 
difficult to select a suitable name. It was 
the weakling of the family, for in its 
physical development it had remained far 
behind its brothers and sisters. Its small 
fragile body was supported on four tottering 
spindle legs, and it had an astonishingly 
big head, from which two great, round eyes 
looked foolishly out upon the world. So 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN in 

we thought that the next name in order, 
which happened to be "The Diplomat/' 
was hardly appropriate. But it received 
a most fitting name from one of the lieuten- 
ants, who always referred to it as "the 
little idiot." 

The kittens were often up on the poop, 
frolicking in the sunshine. At such times 
all the officers, who happened to be off 
duty, devoted themselves to nurse-maid 
service, in order to prevent the kittens 
from falling overboard. Nevertheless, one 
day the little idiot succeeded in eluding 
our watchful care. When we assembled 
at the table for our afternoon coffee, the 
kitten was missing, and could not be found 
in spite of diligent search for it. The 
officers who had been on kitten-watch duty 
earnestly assured us that the missing one 
could not possibly have tumbled over- 
board. But it was gone, and was nowhere 



ii2 THE "EMDEN" 

to be found. Deep despondency reigned 
as a consequence of the kitten's loss, but 
this quickly gave place to loud rejoicing 
when, in the course of the nightly round of 
the ship, inspection of the rear 10.5-cm. 
ammunition magazine revealed the little 
idiot sleeping peacefully on one of the 
cases of ammunition. It had got down 
there by a leap from the poop through the 
ammunition shaft, a descent of about nine 
meters. For human creatures of the kit- 
ten's tender age we should not advise so 
daring an undertaking. The little idiot, 
however, was not much the worse for it. 
He was lame in one of his hind legs for a 
few days, and then all was well with him 
again. 

Our kittens were not the only animals 
that the war had brought aboard our ship. 
If some one had dropped from the sky, 
and landed on the "Emden" on one of 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 113 

these days, he would have opened his eyes 
in wonderment at sight of this "man-of- 
war." Forward, in the vicinity of the 
drain pipe, he would have discovered one 
or two pigs, grunting with satisfaction. 
Near by, he would have seen a couple of 
lambs and a sheep or two, bleating peace- 
fully. By a walk aft he would, in all 
probability, have scared up a whole flock 
of pigeons that had been sitting on the 
rails which served for the transportation 
of ammunition, and that, at his approach, 
would take refuge in the pigeon house that 
had been fastened against one of the 
funnels. In his further progress he would 
most likely have frightened up a few dozen 
hens that would then have run cackling 
about his heels, the noise they made being 
only outdone by the still louder cackling 
of a flock of geese engaged in unsuccessful 
attempts at swimming in a large half-tub 



ii4 THE "EMDEN" 

aft, and at the same time trying to drink 
salt water. We always had a great deal 
of live stock on board, all of which we had 
taken from the captured steamers, and 
which lent variety to our table. We had 
a less practical, but more ornamental 
addition to our menagerie in a dwarf 
antelope, which I came upon one day 
in the forward battery. How the dainty 
creature got there has always remained a 
mystery to me. 

All our animals received devoted care 
from the men of the crew. Indeed, I 
cannot suppress a suspicion that the pigs 
were so assiduously fed with all remnants 
left from our own meals, in the secret hope 
that this would hasten the day when they 
would be served up for our dinners. 

The men had much leisure. Under exist- 
ing circumstances no regular drills, such as 
are customary in time of peace, could be 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 115 

undertaken. A large part of the crew 
was necessarily constantly on duty, in 
service at the engines, or elsewhere in the 
ship, each man ready at his post. The 
rest of the men had to be kept in good 
physical condition, so as to be able to meet 
any sudden emergency which the war might 
bring about. In fair weather the men 
slept at their stations, ready for action 
with the guns. It was especially desirable 
to provide comfortable and airy sleeping 
places for the men who served in the 
engine room. Oftentimes the rooms pro- 
vided for this purpose were rendered unfit 
for occupation by the extreme heat of the 
tropical climate. A part of deck was 
therefore set aside as a sleeping place for 
the men, and provision made for the hang- 
ing of their hammocks there. Anyone step- 
ping out upon this deck on a fair night 
would have seen a "sleeping host" sus- 



n6 THE "EMDEN" 



pended in hammocks, all gently swaying 
with the motion of the ship. 

A part of the day was often devoted 
to giving the crew a report or explanation 
of the existing war situation, in so far as 
this was possible. Oftentimes the news- 
papers were read aloud, and many of the 
books belonging to the officers found their 
way forward, to help pass the time pleas- 
antly for the men. 

To keep them informed with regard to 
the progress of the war was a duty which 
I reserved for myself. A large map of 
Germany and the adjacent countries was 
drawn, and on it the course of events on 
land was traced. 

It was not an easy matter for me to decide 
just how to handle the subject of the war 
in my talks to the crew. My only sources 
of information with regard to it were the 
English newspapers, which, as is notorious, 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 117 

habitually published the most absurd mis- 
representations of what had occurred. 
Constant annihilation of the German 
armies, utter disorganization everywhere, 
complete collapse,, starvation, revolution, 
epidemic of suicide among German army 
corps commanders were common items of 
daily news. Great headlines announced 
that the Emperor had been wounded, the 
Crown Prince had fallen, Bavaria had with- 
drawn from the Empire, and other like 
nonsense. 

One course that was open to me in deal- 
ing with these newspaper eccentricities 
was to draw my own conclusion from them, 
and present this to the men, with a total 
disregard of the most barefaced English 
lies; for continued bad news from home 
could not fail, in the end, to affect the 
spirits of the men. On the other hand, I 
had every reason to believe that eventually 



n8 THE "EMDEN" 

the newspaper reports would reach the 
men after all. My serving man would 
most likely find newspapers in my room, 
and read them. The mess orderlies were 
present, and therefore within hearing, when 
the officers read the newspapers, and dis- 
cussed their contents. Now, if what I 
told the crew had been at variance with 
that which was repeated to them by the 
orderlies, it could but be expected that the 
thought would suggest itself to them that 
I was intentionally representing matters 
in a favorable light, and that, after all, 
the outlook for Germany was more serious 
than I was willing to admit. A misunder- 
standing such as this had to be avoided 
at all hazards. So, from the outset, I told 
the men that I intended to read the news- 
papers to them, word for word, and then 
at the close, I would give them my opinion 
of what had been read. 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 119 

As an illustration of how much reliance 
could be placed in the reports of the Reuter 
Agency, a telegram which we had inter- 
cepted early in August, before we had left 
the Yellow Sea, served my purpose very 
well. It read: " Official. The 'Emden' 
sunk in battle with the 'Askold.'" 

There could be no doubt in the minds of 
my hearers that this was, to say the least, 
a gross exaggeration. I could therefore 
use this telegram as a basis for the belief 
that all the rest of the newspaper informa- 
tion had about as much foundation of 
truth. 

The men were not slow to realize how 
little faith was to be placed in these English 
reports. 

Great hilarity was caused one day by a 
map we found in one of the papers, repre- 
senting Germany after the British lion had 
divided the spoils. On this map France 



120 THE "EMDEN" 

extended to the Weser and Werra rivers, 
and to the Bavarian frontier, Denmark, 
down to a line drawn through Wismar, 
Wittenberge, Magdeburg, Hanover," and 
Bremen; England had swallowed up Olden- 
burg and Hanover; the country east of 
the Elbe, including Saxony, had been de- 
livered into the hands of the Czar; Bavaria 
was an independent country; of the German 
Empire there was nothing left except a 
little spot called "Thuringen." 

Henceforth the Bavarians and Thuring- 
ians among us carried their heads very 
high, — the former, because their homeland 
had been recognized even by the enemy as 
being an essential element, and the latter, 
because theirs seemed to be regarded as 
the nucleus of the Empire. 

What sport we made of it ! 

The men always looked forward with 
eagerness to the time for reading the 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 121 

newspapers. As soon as the papers found 
on a captured ship had been brought 
aboard the "Emden," all eyes asked an 
unuttered question — "When is the reading 
to come off?" On such occasions disputes, 
otherwise unheard of, were likely to arise 
among the men of the crew as to whose 
turn it was to be on duty, for no one wanted 
to miss the reading. Whenever the whistle 
shrilled out the call: "All hands to the 
forecastle," it was invariably greeted with 
an inarticulate yell of delight that rang aft 
from the forward part of the ship. 

Then, after the newspapers had been 
read, and as clear a portrayal as possible 
had been given of the most recent events of 
the war, there were always many questions 
asked with regard to one point or another. 

The chief interest was ever in the ships 
of the squadron. The victory of Santa 
Maria, when, for the first time in a hundred 



122 THE "EMDEN" 

years an English squadron had suffered 
decided defeat at the hands of an equal 
antagonist, had, naturally enough, roused 
great enthusiasm. Everyone aboard our 
ship realized that the fate of all the other 
ships of the squadron was sealed, quite as 
well as was that of the "Emden." For 
this very reason it gave us all a feeling of 
satisfaction and pride to know that, before 
they had met their doom, our armored 
cruisers had succeeded in gaining for the 
Germans the first victory at sea, and in 
inflicting upon the English their first naval 
defeat in a hundred years. 

Duty aboard the "Emden" consisted 
chiefly in keeping the ship itself, the 
engines, and the armament in condition. 
To provide a source of refreshment for the 
crew, a large number of shower baths, 
made out of old pipes, had been arranged 
up on deck. The entire crew had a shower 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 123 

bath three times a day, each man being 
allowed to enjoy it as long as he liked. 

The state of health aboard the "Emden" 
was excellent. From the time we left 
Tsingtao until the day of our encounter 
with the "Sidney," there was not a case 
of sickness on board. 

Every afternoon the ship's band gave us 
quite a long concert. At such times the 
men all sat cozily about on the forecastle, 
listening to the music, some joining in 
with their voices, while others smoked or 
danced. In the evening, after darkness 
had set in, the singers aboard usually got 
together, and then every possible and 
impossible song was sung by a chorus that 
was excellent both in volume and quality. 
The "possible" songs were, to a great 
extent, our beautiful German national 
melodies, and these were always well ren- 
dered. The "impossible" ones were fre- 



124 THE "EMDEN" 

quently improvised for the occasion. In 
these, clearness of enunciation was always 
a greater feature than either rhyme or 
rhythm. The singing invariably closed 
with the "Watch on the Rhine," in which 
all hands on deck joined. 

Distributing the booty we had taken 
from a captured ship was always an occa- 
sion about which centered a great deal of 
interest. Anything of a useful nature, 
especially everything in the line of food, 
was, as a matter of course, taken aboard 
the " Emden." As a result, veritable moun- 
tains of canned goods were stored away in 
a place set apart for them on the forward 
deck. Casks full of delectable things were 
there. Hams and sausages dangled down 
from the engine skylight. There were 
stacks of chocolate and confectionery, and 
bottles labelled "Claret" and "Cognac," 
with three stars. 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 125 

To the accompaniment of a barnyard 
medley of grunting, squeaking, bleating, 
and cackling, the different kinds of live- 
stock that were to be entered upon the 
inventory were driven to the various places 
prepared for them. The steward stood by 
with his assistants and entered everything 
upon his list. When his account was 
complete, the distribution took place. The 
men stood lined up in a wide circle, smoking 
and chatting while they waited, and when 
they had received their share, they had 
their hands full for quite a while, as they 
carried off all the good things, and stored 
them away in their end of the ship. 

So as to be able to do justice to all that 
fortune bestowed upon us, an extra meal 
or two had to be tucked in between the 
usual ones. So, with our afternoon coffee 
we now had chocolate or bonbons. For 
the smokers there were more than 250,000 



126 "THE EMDEN" 



cigarettes stored away, and when, in the 
evening, they had been passed around, the 
deck looked as though several hundred 
fireflies were flitting about it. The English 
flour, which we found in great abundance, 
kept our bakers busy, with the result that 
we had most excellent bread. Because of 
this superabundance of provisions, the chief 
concern of the responsible officers was to 
prevent an overfeeding of the men, and 
not, as in time of peace, to see to it that 
they were not undernourished. 

That many other useful things besides 
eatables found their way to the "Emden," 
it is needless to say. Whenever I went 
aboard a captured steamer, a list of all the 
articles desired was always given me. 
There were but few times when these 
wishes remained unfulfilled, even when 
they called for such unusual things as screw- 
taps, fine or course, soldering lamps, pias- 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 127 

sava brooms, sheets of rubber, hand vices, 
bull's-eye lanterns, iron bars, firebricks, 
machine oil, and the like. 

The men I took with me to the captured 
steamers to carry the things aboard the 
"Emden," usually knew just what the men 
of our crew would like to get of such articles 
as were to be had, but which did not appear 
on my list. But all the suggestions that 
were made to me in this respect could not 
be carried out. I felt compelled to refuse 
to allow oil paintings, large mirrors, toy 
drums, horses, and the like to be taken 
aboard the "Emden." 

When we happened to be in a reflective 
state of mind, we often thought of our 
pursuers, — how close to us they were all 
the while, and yet, during their long con- 
tinuance at sea, compelled to live for weeks 
on hardtack and corned beef, while beer, 
wine, cognac, fresh eggs, roast chicken, 



128 THE "EMDEN" 

juicy hams, chocolate, bonbons and ciga- 
rettes were only phantoms of the imagina- 
tion to them, seen in teasing dreams, or 
remembered as the delights of their last 
visit ashore. 

So we spent the passing days, while 
certain death lurked round about us. In 
sixteen ships our enemies were burning 
their coal, and racking their brains in vain 
attempt to catch us. 

As there was not a merchantman of the 
enemy now abroad, our Commander, as has 
been related, decided to give the "Emden" 
a much needed overhauling, especially to 
clean the bottom of the ship. So we 
steered a southerly course, which took us 
out of the Bay of Bengal, and, one fine 
morning, our anchor rattled down into the 
sea for the first time in many a long day. 
We were in the harbor of Diego Garcia, a 
small island belonging to England, and 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 129 

situated in the extreme southern part of 
the Indian Ocean. 

Hardly had we anchored when the Eng- 
lish flag was joyfully run up on shore. A 
boat with an old Englishman in it put off 
from the island and came toward us. 
With his face beaming with the pleasure of 
seeing some one from the outside world, 
he came on board, bringing with him gifts 
of fresh eggs, vegetables, etc. He gave 
eager expression to the delight it afforded 
him to have the opportunity, after many 
years, once more to greet some of his Ger- 
man cousins, so dear to his heart, and so 
highly esteemed. He assured us that 
he was always so glad to see the Germans, 
especially those that came in their fine 
war ships. He had not seen one of them 
since 1889, when the two frigates, the 
"Bismarck" and the "Marie," had run 
into the harbor. That was a long time 



i 3 o THE "EMDEN" 

ago, he remarked, but for this very reason 
it made him all the happier to see us now, 
and he hoped it would not be long before 
another German ship would anchor at 
Diego Garcia. 

At first we were somewhat surprised at 
this greeting, although by this time we 
had become accustomed to all kinds of 
English eccentricities. But soon we learned 
from our guest that Diego Garcia receives 
a mail only twice a year, by way of Mauri- 
tius, and so the people on the little island 
as yet knew nothing of the war. We 
surely were not disposed to acquaint them 
with the horrors of existing conditions. 
Why should we? And, moreover, it might 
so happen that we would come again before 
many days had passed. 

However, when our guest came on board 
the "Emden," and, looking about him, 
saw the condition of this German man-of- 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 131 

war, he opened his eyes wide in astonish- 
ment. Instead of the usual white deck, 
shining with cleanliness, he beheld an ill- 
looking, oil-stained flooring, blackened by 
coal dust, and furrowed with deep scratches. 
He saw that the color of the engine skylight 
was more nearly black than gray, that the 
railing was not only broken, but entirely 
missing in places, that only small patches 
of linoleum were still to be seen here and 
there, that thickly plaited matting was 
hung about the guns as a protection against 
splintering, that there were many spots on 
the walls indicating that something was 
gone that had either stood or hung there, 
and that in the officers' mess there was a 
remarkable scarcity of furniture. When 
he beheld all this, he was blank with 
astonishment, and wanted to know what 
it all meant. 

We tried to reassure him, however, by 



132 THE "EMDEN" 

telling him that we were on a cruise around 
the world, that this made it desirable for 
us to dispense with everything that was 
not absolutely necessary, and that we had 
to use every available place for coal. In 
addition, we treated him so generously 
with whiskey, that presently he gave up 
thinking at all. He did not seem to find 
this a very difficult thing to do. With an 
effort, he managed to ask us to do him a 
favor, which was that we should repair his 
motor boat for him, that he had not been 
able to use for the past half year. This 
we promised to do, and we kept our word. 
We made the most of the time we spent 
in this quiet and remote harbor to put our 
ship in as good condition as possible, to 
give her a thorough cleaning, and especially 
to scrape the bottom, and give it a fresh 
coat of paint. The latter could, of course, 
be only imperfectly accomplished, and was 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 133 

managed by letting water enough into one 
side of the ship to give it a slanting posi- 
tion. Men in small boats then cleaned 
and painted as much of the bottom as had 
been raised out of the water in this way. 

While we lay in the harbor, we found 
diversion in a novel sort of hunting. Look- 
ing down from the deck one day, we saw 
two objects floating in the water close by 
the ship. At first sight we took them to 
be bundles of dirty rags that had been 
thrown overboard. Suddenly, however, we 
saw that the objects moved, and were 
silvery white on the under side. Upon 
closer inspection they turned out to be 
two enormous rays. I estimated their 
size to be from four to five square meters. 
They had great wide, shiny yellow mouths, 
which they opened to catch the small fish 
they were chasing. 

Rifles were quickly brought out, and we 



i 3 4 THE "EMDEN" 

tried to get a shot at the creatures. To do 
this, we had to wait for the propitious 
moment when they raised their backs 
somewhat out of the water. One of our 
shots, fired at just the right moment, hit 
one of the fish squarely on the back. Toss- 
ing and splashing, it made a leap from 
twenty to thirty centimeters high out of 
the water, all the while flapping violently 
with its broad fins, causing a commotion 
in the water resembling that produced by 
the beating of the wings of a large bird. 

Much to our disappointment, we failed 
to secure the fish however. 

Naturally, some of the time we passed 
in the harbor was devoted to fishing. 
Everywhere out of the side windows dangled 
fish lines, and the efforts of the fishermen 
brought rich reward. The queerest speci- 
mens were pulled up. Fish of every color 
were there, — red, green, and blue ones ; 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 135 

broad fish, and narrow, pointed ones ; some 
with eyes on their upper side, while others 
had them underneath, and still others 
were provided with long spines. They 
were all landed on deck, but were not 
allowed to be eaten until the ship's doctor 
had examined them and pronounced them 
fit for food, as we were aware that certain 
kinds of fish are poisonous. 

We saw sea snakes also. But, to our 
regret, we failed to catch any. They were 
about two meters long, and light green in 
color. The creatures had a peculiar way 
of leaping upward out of the water, all the 
while whipping vigorously back and forth 
with their tails, assuming an almost vertical 
position as they moved rapidly along on 
the surface of the water. 

This idyl of southern seas could, un- 
fortunately, be of but short duration. 
Soon the "Emden" was on her way to 



136 THE "EMDEN" 

new fields of action. In the vicinity of 
Minikoi Island we captured a great many 
more prizes, for, by this time, shipping 
had ventured forth once more. 

We were especially pleased that the 
British Admiralty again saw fit to send us 
a fine steamer of 7000 tonnage, carrying a 
cargo of the best Welsh coal. But, before 
long, no ships were to be seen in the neigh- 
borhood of Minikoi Island. Either all 
shipping was again being kept at home, or 
else a different course was being followed. 
It behooved us therefore to discover the 
route by which the steamers were now 
going. 

First of all, we searched the water to the 
north of Minikoi Island. And behold, 
in the shortest possible time we came upon 
an English steamer, whose captain, when 
he was captured, exclaimed in great sur- 
prise: "Tell me, how did you learn of the 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 137 

new and secret course laid out for mer- 
chantmen by the Admiralty?" That was 
hint enough for us, and we forthwith looked 
for more ships in this region. And we did 
well to do so. 

As a result, we renewed our acquaintance 
with an English lady whom we had met 
before. I noticed at once how calmly she 
accepted her unusual situation. She went 
about the deck with great composure, 
distributing chocolate and cigarettes among 
our men. From her conversation it soon 
developed that she had grown quite accus- 
tomed to having her plans interrupted by 
the "Emden." First of all, while on her 
way from Hong Kong to Europe, the ship 
on which she was travelling had turned 
back while still in the Yellow Sea upon 
learning that the "Emden" was near. 
After that, the lady had spent several 
weeks idly waiting in Hong Kong. Then 



138 THE "EMDEN" 

she had managed to get as far as Singapore, 
from whence she had started out afresh, 
and again she had the experience of having 
her ship called back to the harbor from 
which she had sailed, because it was re- 
ported that the "Emden" was in the 
neighborhood. After a few more weeks 
of waiting, this time at Singapore, she had 
got as far as Colombo, and on her way 
out from there she had met the "Emden" 
after all. Her return trip to India was 
made on one of our junkmen. 

To capture steamers at night was no 
easy task for the "Emden," and always 
made great demands on our men. We 
could never be sure whether or not it was 
a man-of-war we were approaching. There- 
fore, whenever we did not know, beyond 
a peradventure, that it was a merchant- 
man, the men were summoned to their 
battle posts. Furthermore, we had to 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 139 

reckon with the possibility that the English 
would protect their merchantmen by a 
convoy of war ships. In that case the 
latter would follow at a short distance 
behind the ships they were escorting, and, 
when the "Emden's" attention was fixed 
upon the steamer she was raiding, an 
unexpected attack would be made upon 
her. 

On one occasion, we thought that we 
had surely run upon a man-of-war. The 
night was black. Ahead, and coming 
toward us, we saw a steamer that was 
showing lights, apparently a merchant- 
man. The " Emden," with screened lights, 
of course, ran toward her on a course at an 
angle with her own. Just as we were about 
to turn on our lights, to give chase, we 
saw a large dark object close behind the 
steamer. We thought it might be a man- 
of-war travelling without lights. As wc 



140 THE "EMDEN" 

could not make out what it was, we pre- 
pared for any event. So the order was: 
"Both engines at full speed, straight away! 
Torpedoes ready! And at her!" 

Upon closer approach it developed that 
our fierce attack was being made upon 
nothing more dangerous than a heavy 
cloud of smoke that the steamer had just 
belched forth, and which, owing to the 
absence of wind, lay upon the water in the 
steamer's wake. 

Unfortunately, we found it impossible 
to avoid running upon neutrals in this 
particular vicinity, and these, after an 
inspection, had to be allowed to proceed. 
Without a single exception they were Dutch 
ships. 

However, our experience with them was 
happier than the one we had had with the 
"Loredano." Not once did we intercept 
a wireless message in which the Dutch 



THE FLYING DUTCHMAN 141 

made any allusion to the "Emden." On 
the other hand, we ourselves could not 
hope to get any news of the war from these 
ships, as the Dutch government, in the 
endeavor to preserve a strict neutrality, 
had forbidden the transmission by wireless 
of any information with regard to the war. 
We caught up one message, sent by an 
English to a Dutch ship, asking for news 
of the war. The answer was: "We are 
not allowed to transmit war news of any 
kind." 

Thus, within a comparatively small ex- 
panse of the sea, the "Emden" continued 
to do her part in the great war, constantly 
pursued by sixteen hostile war ships, and, 
of course, compelled to remain close to the 
usual steamship routes, as there only could 
we hope to secure any prizes. 

That, in spite of this, we managed to 
elude our enemies, together with the fact 



142 THE "EMDEN" 

that the "Emden" appeared, like a will-o- 
the-wisp, first in one quarter, and then in 
another, gave rise to the assumption by 
the English papers of India, that there 
were a number of German raiders abroad, 
and that they all had adopted the name 
"Emden" as a ruse. Indeed, in course 
of time we ceased to be called the " Emden" 
at all, and were generally known as "the 
flying Dutchman." 



V 
OUR BAPTISM BY FIRE 



Chapter V 
OUR BAPTISM BY FIRE 

Again there was a total absence of mer- 
chantmen, and, as the "Emden" had just 
been put into good condition, some new 
and profitable service must be found for 
her. Her Commander had come to the 
conclusion that, besides Colombo and Singa- 
pore, the enemy must be using still another 
base for taking on coal and provisions, and 
for recuperation. The port which sug- 
gested itself as the one most likely to be 
serving this purpose was Penang. We 
had gathered from newspaper reports that 
the French armored cruisers, "Montcalm" 
and "Dupleix," frequently put into port 
there. To attack these or any other 
ships that might be lying in the harbor 



i 4 6 THE "EMDEN" 

was the task which our Commander now 
set himself. 

On the night from the twenty-seventh 
to the twenty-eighth of October the " Em- 
den" arrived at a point just outside of 
Penang, and was approaching the harbor 
at full speed. It was her Commander's 
intention to run in as soon as the day 
dawned. The narrow entrance to the 
harbor offered too many difficulties to make 
it advisable to attempt it by night. More- 
over, it is in the early hours of the coming 
day that human weariness is most likely 
to assert itself, and so make the prospect 
of success by surprise more hopeful. 

Aboard the "Emden" all hands were 
waked bright and early. The ship was 
cleared for action to the utmost, that is, 
everything was put in a state of absolute 
readiness for battle. A hot and hearty 
breakfast was served to the men. Clean 



OUR BAPTISM BY FIRE 147 

1 . i . l -L. ■■»■- II . i'ii . i . ii - 1 II . I. 1 .«l i II I. H I . -II l i n il— — ^ — — — — ■ — 

underclothing and fresh suits were put on, 
to lessen, in so far as possible, all danger 
of infection in case of wounds. 

Without a light showing, nor a bit of 
smoke escaping, and with every man at 
his post, the "Emden" drew near to the 
enemy's port. It was just before sunrise. 
The night was dark. But in these southern 
latitudes the full light of day bursts sud- 
denly upon the world with the rising of the 
sun. Here and there, in the darkness of 
the night, we passed a lone fishing boat 
lying near the entrance to the harbor, 
one or two of which we would have run 
down had it not been for the watchful eye 
of the officer on duty, who managed to 
steer clear of them. 

Close to the entrance of the harbor we 
saw, to port of us, a bright white light that 
appeared and disappeared with lightning- 
like rapidity, remaining in sight only a 



148 THE "EMDEN" 

couple of seconds at a time. Beyond a 
doubt it was an electric light, and was 
therefore, apparently, some sort of outpost 
or sentinel vessel. We felt quite sure of 
this, although we did not catch sight of 
the ship itself. The fact that it was here 
indicated the presence of war ships in the 
harbor. 

On the " Emden" the fourth funnel, which 
had done us good service on many a former 
occasion, had of course again been set up. 

Just as our ship had reached the inner 
roadstead of Penang, the first darting rays 
of the coming day flashed into the sky. 
We had arrived at just the right moment. 
During the brief and quickly passing dusk of 
dawn we discovered a large number of ships 
lying in the harbor. Apparently they were 
all merchantmen. The closest scrutiny 
failed to reveal anything that looked like a 
man-of-war. We were just beginning to 



OUR BAPTISM BY FIRE 149 

think that this time we had made a mis- 
take, when suddenly, in the midst of all the 
merchantmen that were showing lights, we 
saw a dark object on which there was not 
a light to be seen. It had every appearance 
of being a war ship. In a few minutes 
we had come close enough to see that, 
beyond doubt, it was some kind of war 
craft. Then suddenly, on this dark and 
suspicious looking object, there appeared 
three lights at equal distances from each 
other. Our first thought was: Those are 
the stern lights of three destroyers that 
are lying side by side. 

But soon we realized that this could not 
be the case. The hull of the vessel that 
was now getting more and more distinctly 
visible was evidently too large to be that 
of a destroyer. Unfortunately, the ship 
in which we were so interested was lying 
in the current, which brought her stern 



i 5 o THE "EMDEN" 

pointing toward us, and we could not, 
therefore, get a side view of her. Not 
until the "Emden" had approached to a 
distance of not more than two hundred 
meters, had passed by and taken a position 
to the one side of her, did we recognize the 
"Schemstchuk." 

On board, peace and quiet reigned. 
All hands were sleeping strenuously. We 
crept so close up to her that even in the 
prevailing dusk of the early morning the 
Russian cruiser was easily recognized. Not 
an officer on duty, not a watch on the look- 
out, not a man of the signal service was to 
be seen. We sent our first torpedo whizzing 
over to her from our starboard broadside 
tube, while at the same time our broadside 
poured shells into the forepart of the 
" Schemtschuk," where the crew was sleep- 
ing. Our torpedo hit the enemy's cruiser 
aft. The jar which shook the ship as our 



OUR BAPTISM BY FIRE 151 

torpedo struck was plainly visible. There 
was a slight upward movement of the after 
part of the ship, — from about a quarter 
to a half meter high, — and then the stern 
slowly settled. 

Now matters began to look lively on the 
Russian. The doors leading on to the 
deck from the officers' rooms were torn 
open. A large number of the officers came 
running out, but did not seem to have a 
very definite idea of where their battle 
stations were, for, without any further 
ado, most of them ran as far aft as the 
flagstaff, and then promptly jumped over- 
board. They were followed by a whole 
company of sailors, — evidently the sort 
of fellows who do not hesitate to go through 
thick and thin with their masters. Mean- 
while our rapid gun fire, delivered at close 
range, was doing devastating work on the 
"Schemtschuk." 



152 THE "EMDEN" 

At a distance of four hundred meters, 
and very slowly, the "Emden" passed by 
the hostile cruiser from stern to bow, 
pouring broadsides into her all the while. 
Before many minutes had passed the 
fore part of the ship looked like a sieve. 
Smouldering fires were eating their way 
through the interior of the ship. Great 
holes in both sides of the hull made it 
possible to look clean through the ship. 
Clap upon clap the shells struck. When 
they hit, there was a bright, sharp flash. 
Then, for the space of a few seconds, fiery 
rings seemed to be rapidly circling around 
the spot where the shell had struck, until, 
almost immediately afterward, masses of 
black smoke from the interior burst forth 
through the great holes in the sides of the 
doomed ship. We did not see a man 
leave the fore part of the "Schemtschuk." 

Meanwhile, the "Emden" was being 



OUR BAPTISM BY FIRE 153 

fired upon from three sides. Where the 
shots came from, we did not know. We 
could only hear the whistling of the shells, 
and see them fall on the merchantmen 
that lay on every side of us. The " Schem- 
tschuk" now also took a hand in the game, 
and began to fire at us. As her guns were 
of greater caliber than our own, their 
shells, if they had struck the "Emden," 
would have proved disastrous to her. Even 
had our ship not been disabled, the dam- 
age sustained would in all probability have 
been sufficient to make it impossible for 
us to continue our present activity, as 
the "Emden" had no port of refuge where 
she could make repairs. Our Commander 
therefore gave orders to fire another 
torpedo. 

In the meantime the "Emden" had 
passed beyond the "Schemtschuk," had 
turned hard about to port, and was passing 



i 5 4 THE "EMDEN" 



by her opponent for the second time. 
When the distance between the two ships 
had been reduced to four hundred meters, 
our second torpedo went flying over to the 
"Schemtschuk." It had grown so light in 
the meantime that we could plainly see 
the whirling course of the missile as it sped 
on its way. In a few seconds there was a 
terrible explosion on the Russian cruiser, 
in the vicinity of the pilot bridge. A great 
thick cloud of black smoke, mixed with 
grey, and shot through with white steam 
and spray, rose to a height of one hundred 
and fifty meters, or more. Loose parts of 
the ship went flying up into the air. We 
could see the cruiser break apart in the 
middle, while bow and stern dipped into 
the water at the same time. Then the 
cloud raised by the explosion hid every- 
thing from sight, and when, in about ten 
or fifteen seconds, it had cleared away, there 



OUR BAPTISM BY FIRE 155 

was nothing to be seen of the cruiser except 
the truck of the mast head protruding out 
of the water. 

Quantities of debris, and many men 
swimming about in the water marked the 
spot where the ship had disappeared. It 
was not necessary that we, of the " Emden," 
should rescue the survivors of the "Schem- 
tschuk," as there were numbers of fishing 
boats near, which immediately went to 
their assistance. 

All shooting had ceased by this time. 
Our other two antagonists that, in addi- 
tion to the "Schemtschuk," had fired upon 
us, had also discontinued their fire. More- 
over, we did not know just where the shots 
had come from. 

Suddenly, lying at anchor among the 
merchantmen, and half hidden from our 
view by them, we discovered the French 
gunboat "D'Iberville." It must have been 



156 THE "EMDEN" 

» BrtaiMBHWWBWIMBBWMIMMWMWW ■ — mmu.au nis-tr-i i ——————— B— — — — — ■ f B— i 

from her that some of the shots fired at us 
had come. Our Commander had just or- 
dered the "Emden" to turn to port, and, 
passing by the wreck of the " Schemtschuk," 
to go to the attack of the " DTberville," 
when the lookout at the mast head reported 
a hostile destroyer running into the har- 
bor from out at sea. This was an enemy it 
would not be safe for us to meet here in 
the narrow entrance to the harbor, as it 
would be quite impossible for us to execute 
any manoeuvre by which we could avoid 
the torpedoes that would be fired at us. 
Our Commander decided therefore to run 
out toward the destroyer at the top notch 
of our speed, so as to meet her in the broader 
expanse of the outer harbor. We saw the 
ship very plainly as we approached each 
other. There was the high, pointed fore- 
castle with the low, wide funnel behind it, 
and a course at high speed directly toward 



OUR BAPTISM BY FIRE 157 

us, — the typical appearance of one of 
the large English destroyers. 

At a distance of 4000 meters our first 
shot went whizzing over to her. All around 
her we could see high columns of water 
raised by the shells as they struck the sea. 
Hereupon, the vessel quickly turned hard 
about to starboard. It was then that we 
discovered that she was only an English 
government steamer of medium size. It 
was due to the refraction of the rays of 
light which is so common in tropical regions, 
and especially at sunrise, that the ship's 
outlines had been so distorted as to lend 
her the appearance of a destroyer. We 
ceased firing. 

But again, just as we were about to 
turn and get after the " D'Iberville " for 
the second time, there came a report from 
the lookout announcing that another large 
ship had been sighted running into the 



1 58 THE "EMDEN 



harbor. While we were still at a great 
distance from her, it was plainly to be 
seen that this time we were dealing with 
a merchantman. Our Commander deter- 
mined first of all to make sure of this lat- 
est arrival. The "DTberville" could not 
get away. Our cutter was rushed down to 
the water. We gave the steamer the 
usual signal: "Stop! We are sending a 
boat." But hardly had our cutter arrived 
alongside the ship when again a war vessel 
of some kind was seen approaching through 
the entrance of the harbor. So the cutter 
was quickly recalled and hoisted aboard, 
and then we drove toward this latest 
comer. 

The illusions due to refraction were most 
unusual on this morning. Every few min- 
utes the outlines of the approaching ship 
seemed to change. At first she appeared 
to be a large black ship with funnels 



OUR BAPTISM BY FIRE 159 

fore and aft. Beyond a doubt, therefore, 
this must be a man-of-war. Then sud- 
denly her dimensions shrank together. 
Half of the funnels we had seen, disappeared 
altogether, and she now looked like a 
merchantman, painted gray, and with black 
bands around the funnels. Only a few 
minutes later the vessel had changed her 
appearance again. She had grown smaller, 
was black, and had two funnels. From 
this we concluded that she must surely 
be a French torpedo boat destroyer. So, 
at her at once! 

The "Emden" was not flying her flag 
at the time, nor was the ship that was 
approaching showing her colors. When 
about 6000 meters distant from us, she 
ran up the tri-color. A Frenchman, there- 
fore! She was coming at us at right 
angles to our course, and apparently did 
not know just what to make of us. By 



160 THE "EMDEN" 

what the Frenchman's attitude was de- 
termined is a mystery to me. Our shots 
and the detonation of the bursting torpe- 
does must have been heard afar, and one 
would suppose that any cruiser leaving the 
harbor immediately afterward would have 
been viewed with suspicion, to say the 
least. Nevertheless, the ship kept on her 
course toward us. When we had reached 
the 4000 meter range for our shots, up 
went our battle flags. The "Emden" 
turned easily to port, presented her broad- 
side to the enemy, and our first shot went 
humming over to her. 

Now the Frenchman realized who we 
were. She turned hard about to port, 
put on all steam, and tried to run away 
from us. It was too late. The " Emden's " 
third salvo had lodged five shells astern in 
her opponent. A detonation followed, ap- 
parently an explosion of ammunition ; then 



OUR BAPTISM BY FIRE 161 

a great cloud of black coal dust, mingled 
with white steam, shrouded the whole 
stern end of the fleeing ship. It must be 
conceded that, in spite of the hopelessness 
of their position, the Frenchmen set vigor- 
ously to work to defend their ship. They 
shot two torpedoes at the "Emden," and 
the forward guns of the destroyer opened 
fire upon us. The torpedoes failed of their 
mark, however, for the "Emden" main- 
tained a distance beyond the range of a 
torpedo. They dropped into the water 
about 900 meters off from our starboard 
side. Nor did the Frenchman's guns con- 
tinue their fire long, for soon they were 
silenced by the hail of shells we fired 
into the destroyer. Mast, funnel, forward 
tower, superstructure, ventilators, — every- 
thing on the Frenchman was shot away. 
In a few minutes more the ship had sunk. 
It was the French destroyer, "Mousquet." 



i62 THE "EMDEN" 

The "Emden" now steered for the spot 
where her foe had disappeared in the sea. 
Both cutters were lowered for the purpose 
of picking up the survivors who had come 
to the surface of the water. They were 
floating about, clinging to drifting spars, 
or kept afloat by life-preservers, and were 
scattered along a considerable distance, — 
an evidence that some of the men must 
have jumped overboard at the very be- 
ginning of the engagement. The "Em- 
den's" cutters were provided with dressing 
for wounds, in so far as this was possible, 
and carried the ship's doctors. 

As our cutters approached the French- 
men, who were swimming all about us, a 
strange thing happened. Instead of striv- 
ing to reach our boats, they made every 
effort to get away from us. Yet the dis- 
tance to the nearest shore was so great 
that the swimmers could not hope to 



OUR BAPTISM BY FIRE 163 

reach it through their own efforts. The 
reason why they sought to get away from 
our boats was not revealed to us until 
later. We picked up thirty-three French- 
men, some of them wounded, and one 
wounded officer. Thanks to the precau- 
tion we had taken in sending doctors out 
with the cutters, two-thirds of the wounded 
arrived on board our ship resting in trans- 
port hammocks, with their wounds dressed, 
and their limbs in splints, where these were 
necessary. 

In the meantime a second French tor- 
pedo boat was seen steaming out of the 
harbor and heading for us. For the " Em- 
den" it was now high time to be gone. 
In all probability there were more French 
and English warships in the neighborhood. 
An encounter by daylight with a superior 
force of the enemy must be avoided by the 
"Emden," dependent, as she was, upon 



164 THE "EMDEN" 

herself alone. So we headed for the open 
sea, and kept a westward course at high 
speed. The French torpedo boat chaser 
followed us for a while, but ran into a 
squall of rain, in which she disappeared, 
and was not seen again. Thus our purpose 
to entice the Frenchman out to sea, and 
then turn and destroy her, came to nought. 
Our French prisoners, both the wounded 
and the well, were comfortably provided 
for on the "Emden." All who were suf- 
fering from injuries found rest and care 
in the ship's hospital. For those who had 
escaped injury an ample and firmly con- 
structed shelter house, built of boards and 
sail-cloth, was put up on the starboard side 
of the middle deck, near the engine skylight. 
In our crew were two sailors who spoke 
French fluently. These two men were 
now excused from all other duty, and acted 
as interpreters for the wounded in the 



OUR BAPTISM BY FIRE 165 

hospital, and for the other Frenchmen as 
well. Benches and tables for the use of 
our prisoners were quickly put together. 
The Frenchmen, most of whom had no 
suits on when they came aboard the "Em- 
den," were not only willingly, but cheerfully 
provided with clothing by our men, although 
their own supply was getting very low. 
The prisoners received plenty to eat and 
to drink, and were provided with something 
to smoke. In their liberty of action they 
were as little constrained as possible. 

When I asked some of the Frenchmen 
why they had swum away from our cutters 
that were out to rescue them, they replied: 
"The reports in our newspapers have 
always been that the Germans massacre 
all prisoners, and our officers confirmed 
these statements. We preferred drowning 
to being butchered." 

When, in further conversation, we asked 



166 THE "EMDEN" 



why they had allowed the "Emden" to 
get away on the night we ran out of the 
harbor of Penang, their answer was that 
although they had seen the "Emden" 
very well, they had taken her to be the 
English cruiser "Yarmouth/' and so had 
allowed her to go on her way undisturbed. 
It is most likely, therefore, that the white 
light we saw on the night at Penang was 
this French torpedo boat destroyer. The 
Frenchmen also told us that their com- 
mander had both his legs shot off by one 
of our shells; that he might have been 
saved, but refused, and, tying himself 
fast to the bridge, went down with his 
ship. He did not want to survive the 
shame of seeing some of his men jump 
overboard in an effort to save themselves 
at the very beginning of the fight. Hats 
off to such an officer! 

Among the wounded were three whose 



OUR BAPTISM BY FIRE 167 



injuries were of so severe a nature that 
nothing could be done to save them. Of 
these, one died on the first evening after 
the fight, and the other two on the following 
day. 

According to the custom among sailors, 
the body of the first one of these prisoners 
to die was sewed up in sail-cloth and 
weighted at the feet. It was then carried 
to the starboard deck aft, placed on a bier, 
and draped with the French war flag. 
A guard kept watch beside the bier through- 
out the night. The services for the dead 
took place on the following morning. At 
these ceremonies a company of the "Em- 
den's" men, dressed in their parade suits, 
was present. All the unwounded French- 
men also were allowed to participate. A 
guard of honor, carrying arms, and in 
command of an officer, was stationed at 
the bier. All the German officers, in 



THE "EMDEN" 



uniform and wearing their decorations 
of honor, were in attendance. Our Com- 
mander gave a brief address in French; 
in it he paid tribute to the dead as having 
given his life for his country, by which he 
had earned the honor and respect of friend 
and foe alike. The service ended with a 
prayer rendered in accord with the dead 
man's religious belief, and read from a 
Catholic prayer book. Wrapped in the 
French flag, the dead was then committed 
to the sea from the stern gangway ladder. 
The ship's engine was stopped for the 
occasion, and the guard of honor fired 
three volleys with due ceremony over the 
Frenchman's last resting place. The "Em- 
den's" officers stood at salute beside the 
gangway ladder. Like solemn ceremonies 
took place on the following day when the 
other two Frenchmen, who had died, were 
consigned to their watery grave. 



OUR BAPTISM BY FIRE 169 



Within a few days our French prisoners 
were all transferred to an English steamer 
that was carrying a neutral cargo, the 
destruction of which would have been to 
no purpose. When they were told that 
they were going to be sent off, the two 
senior noncommissioned officers among 
them asked to be allowed to speak to the 
"Emden's" Commander. To him they ex- 
pressed their gratitude, as well as that 
of their comrades, for the kind and humane 
treatment and comfortable shelter they 
had received aboard our ship. To this 
they added that they now knew that what 
their newspapers had said of the Germans 
was all lies, and that on their return to 
their native land they would do all in their 
power to make the truth known. The two 
officers expressed like sentiments to me. 

Before leaving us, the French officer 
who was so seriously wounded asked for 



i 7 o THE "EMDEN" 

an "Emden" cap band, saying that he 
wanted very much to have a memento of 
the ship whose officers and crew had treated 
a vanquished foe with so much chivalry, 
and the wounded with so much kindliness. 

Quantities of the "Emden's" surgeon's 
supplies were sent over to the steamer, 
to be used in dressing the wounds of the 
injured Frenchmen. The captain of the 
steamer was then directed on his way to 
Sabang, where he was advised to take the 
wounded, as the nearest hospital was to 
be found there. To our regret we learned 
from the newspapers, some time afterward, 
that the wounded officer had died there. 

The English gave the most absurd ac- 
count of this fight at Penang. They stated 
that only by flying the English flag had 
the "Emden" succeeded in getting into the 
harbor unrecognized, and further, that she 
had entered the harbor from the south, 



OUR BAPTISM BY FIRE 171 

and had left it by the north passage. 
These are all inventions, and are utterly 
false. In the first place, at no time did 
the "Emden" ever fly the English flag, 
nor would it have been to any purpose to 
have done so in this instance, for we ran 
into the harbor at night. Furthermore, 
the south entrance to Penang harbor is 
too shallow to allow the "Emden" to pass 
through it at any time. 

The only words of the English report 
which I can confirm are those of com- 
mendation for our Commander, with which 
it concludes the description of the sinking 
of the "Mousquet," and the rescue of the 
survivors. The words are these: — "Here 
we have another instance of that chivalry 
which the * Emden V Commander has so 
often shown in his meteor-like career during 
this war. Every minute was of incalculable 
importance to him, as at any moment 



172 THE "EMDEN" 

i i in i nil nw— nw— ■—— ■> 

other French torpedo boats might have 
come out to attack him. But, with no 
thought of the danger he was incurring, 
he stopped his ship and sent boats out to 
pick up the survivors of the 'Mousquet,' 
before proceeding on his way. As the 
saying goes, 'He played the game.'" 

In addition, I wish to express my agree- 
ment with the following words of the 
report: "So ended the battle that will live 
in history as evidence that two ships of 
about equal fighting strength can engage 
each other at shortest range imaginable 
without the inevitable destruction of both. 
An incident such as that which occurred 
yesterday has been declared by most naval 
authorities to be impossible, or at least 
suicidal." 

The man who made the report evidently 
had little acquaintance with men such as 
the "EmdenV Commander. 



VI 
OUR DAILY BREAD 



Chapter VI 
OUR DAILY BREAD 

How to provide our ship with coal was 
a question of vital importance to us. On 
our course from Tsingtao southward and 
into the Indian Ocean we were attended 
by our faithful companion, the coal ten- 
der "Markomannia." But her supply had 
nearly come to an end when we arrived in 
the Indian Ocean. There was no harbor 
to which we could go for coal. So we had 
to earn "our daily bread." 

To be sure, we had been so fortunate as 
to capture, for our first prize, the coal 
steamer " Pontoporros," which had aboard 
several thousand tons of coal for us. But, 
as has been said, this coal was of so inferior 
a quality that it could be of use to us only 
in case of extreme need. We did burn the 



176 THE "EMDEN" 

"Pontoporros's" coal for a short time, 
but, whenever we did so, a tall, telltale 
column of black smoke rose above our 
ship; the fire kettles became clogged, and 
lost in capacity; the entire deck was 
always covered with a layer of fine bits 
of coal and cinders; through every crack 
and every window penetrated the smeary 
black coal dust. In short, every man of 
us longed for better fuel to burn. Our joy 
at capturing a cargo of several thousand tons 
of first-class Welsh coal was greater than if 
it had been a steamer laden with gold. 

The "Emden" coaled very frequently. 
For the event of an engagement with the 
enemy it was necessary always to have a 
large quantity of coal on hand. At no 
time, therefore, could we allow our store 
of fuel to fall below a certain minimum. 
Consequently, the taking on of coal was 
as essential to us as was our daily bread. 



OUR DAILY BREAD 177 

For the crew, it was neither an easy nor 
a pleasant job, — this constant rilling up 
with coal. The heat of the tropical climate 
was intense. This was most noticeable in 
the bunkers, where the coal had to be 
trimmed, and where the temperature often 
rose to a point that was almost unendurable. 
To be sure, while employed at coaling, the 
men wore hardly any clothing at all. 
Their "little coaling packs," as they dubbed 
them, which consisted of an old and other- 
wise useless suit of clothes, fit only for the 
work of taking on coal, had suffered severely 
in the continuous use to which they had 
been put in this everlasting coaling. We 
could not afford to sacrifice any of the 
better suits of clothes to this dirty work. 
So the trousers that had originally been 
long ones soon became ragged below the 
knees, and were shortened to knee pants. 
After a while these were reduced to the 



i 7 8 THE "EMDEN 



length of bathing trousers, and still later — 
but the less said of them in this stage of 
their existence, the better. Moreover, a 
thick coat of coal dust took the place of 
anything else that may have been lacking. 

We had to coal at sea. Now, in the 
.Indian Ocean there is always a rather 
heavy swell, by which ships are kept in 
constant motion. There were times, there- 
fore, when we ran considerable risk in tak- 
ing on coal. 

To protect a ship when going alongside of 
another, fenders are used. They are either 
large mats, or balls made of cordage or of 
reedwork, and are placed so as to prevent 
the two ships from grinding, or being 
damaged by the impact. The fenders we 
carried with us were soon worn to shreds 
by the lively antics that the "Emden" 
and her coaling steamer usually carried on. 
It soon became evident, also, that they 



OUR DAILY BREAD 179 

were by no means large enough to insure 
protection during the strenuous business 
of coaling at sea. It behooved us, there- 
fore, to get to work at making new ones. 

Before we left Tsingtao I had taken the 
precaution to purchase one hundred and 
fifty hammocks. My original intention 
was to make use of them in case of leakage. 
Hammocks can be very effectively used, 
when a ship has suffered damage below the 
water line, by stuffing them into the leak, 
whereby the amount of water that forces 
its way in is lessened. 

These hammocks now stood us in good 
stead. We constructed large and long 
fenders out of logs, from four to six meters 
in length, by covering them with a thick 
layer of hammocks. When needed, these 
fenders were hung along the sides of the 
ship. To be sure, they were always much 
the worse for wear when we were through 



180 THE "EMDEN" 

with the coaling, but before they were 
needed again, we could make new ones. 

We had still another novel sort of fender, 
the like of which, I dare say, had never 
before been used. On one of the steamers 
we had captured, we found a large number 
of automobile tires. Everywhere along 
the sides of the ship we hung these elastic 
rings, and they made most excellent 
buffers. 

The task of coaling at sea was necessarily 
a long and tedious process. Oftentimes 
the two ships that had been lashed to- 
gether rolled badly. In that case, when 
the bags of coal on the coaling steamer had 
been hoisted up on the boom, the favorable 
moment had to be awaited when the two 
ships rolled against each other; then the 
braces were quickly eased, and the coal 
went plunging down somewhere on to the 
"EmdenV deck. It then behooved the 



OUR DAILY BREAD 181 



men to jump away from the coiling as 
nimbly as possible, and get out from 
under. 

That the constant grinding of the ships 
against each other, and the continuous 
plunging of the heavy bags of coal down 
upon the "Emden's" deck resulted in all 
manner of damage to the ship, can be 
readily imagined. The "Emden" carried 
a gun in each one of her " swallow's nests " 
(side structures), fore and aft. Now, when 
the ships rolled against each other, the for- 
ward "swallow's nest " was always in immi- 
nent peril, and was on several occasions 
severely damaged. The chief sighting 
mechanism of a cannon is always placed 
on its left-hand side. Therefore, by coaling 
on the starboard side of the ship the possi- 
bility of damaging this chief sight was 
avoided. And indeed the auxiliary sight- 
ing mechanism, which is on the right-hand 



182 THE "EMDEN" 

side of the gun, was crushed in before 
many days of coaling had passed. The 
doors of the " swallow's nest " had given 
way on one occasion when the coaling 
steamer had lurched against the " Emden," 
and, being forced inward, had struck 
against the gun. 

The bags of coal often caught in the 
railing. Ere long there was not an un- 
damaged railing post on the entire starboard 
side. The linoleum deck also suffered 
greatly. Soon it was worn through. There 
were large holes in it, which laid bare the 
polished steel deck beneath. This, in itself, 
was of little consequence, but the places 
where the steel was exposed were so smooth 
that, especially at night, and when the 
ship rolled badly, the men often slipped on 
it, and fell. For this reason, as soon as 
we had finished coaling, men were set to 
work at roughening the steel surface wher- 



OUR DAILY BREAD 183 

ever it was exposed. To this end we used 
chisels, with which we cut narrow grooves 
into the steel, thereby giving the men a 
firmer hold for their feet. Somewhat later, 
after one of the English steamers had 
provided us with a large quantity of tar 
and some very strong sail-cloth, we covered 
the deck with this. 

For the "Emden," as has been said, it 
was absolutely essential that she should be 
well provided with coal. For this reason 
we not only packed the bunkers to their 
full capacity, but stored quantities of coal 
on deck. Forward on the forecastle, in 
the middle near the engine skylight, and 
aft on the poop, great heaps of coal were 
piled. Naturally, this greatly interfered 
with the passage way from one part of the 
deck to another. Oftentimes, while moving 
about on deck, we had to wind our way in 
and out between piles of coal that rose to 



184 THE "EMDEN 



a man's height. Occasionally, when the 
ship rolled heavily, the coal would slide, 
whereby the deck would be rendered im- 
passable for a time. 

Coal dust and dirt were everywhere. 
So long as there was any coal still stored 
somewhere on deck, the first duty of the 
morning, as soon as all hands were up, 
was to move some of this coal from the 
deck into the bunkers, to replace that 
which had been consumed during the last 
twenty-four hours. The wood of the deck 
suffered severely from this constant drag- 
ging of heavy sacks of coal over it. Deep 
black furrows were worn into it. There 
were oil spots to be seen everywhere. 
That the paint on every part of the ship 
grew dirty and grimy needs not to be 
mentioned. No one, seeing the "Emden" 
as she now looked, would have recognized 
in her the trim ship that, on account of an 



OUR DAILY BREAD 185 

always scrupulously correct appearance, 
was called the "Swan of the East." 

Our antagonists have always held that 
coaling at sea is not feasible under any 
circumstances. In coming to this conclu- 
sion they probably gauged the difficulties 
of the undertaking by the capability of 
their own crews. We found that the 
enemy was always looking for us in every 
quiet bay and hidden nook that could 
suggest itself in connection with coaling, 
in the supposition that, sooner or later 
we would have to run into one of these 
places. Instead of doing so, however, we 
always coaled at sea. 

Even yet I am amused as I recall the 
amazed and questioning expression on the 
face of the English captain of our prize, 
the "Buresk" (he had accepted service 
with us, as will be remembered) when one 
day, while there was a heavy sea running, 



186 THE "EMDEN" 



his ship received orders by signal, "Get 
ready to coal." He thought it was an 
impossibility, and that it would end in 
the destruction of both ships. Six or eight 
hours later, he had to admit that German 
seamen do not allow themselves to be 
hindered by swells, or heavy seas in the 
discharge of their duty. 

At best, the transfer of coal always took 
a long time. Nevertheless, the "Emden" 
sometimes made a very good record at it. 
When the weather was unfavorable, we 
took over about forty tons an hour. But 
there were times when the weather favored 
us. On such occasions we averaged seventy 
tons an hour. Any one who has ever 
undertaken to coal at sea will appreciate 
that this is good work. 

We coaled alternately from the "Buresk" 
and the " Exford." Even though the " Em- 
den" by no means escaped injury from 



OUR DAILY BREAD 187 

the continuous rolling while taking on coal, 
nevertheless our greatest anxiety was always 
for the coaling steamers. We feared they 
might not be able to endure the strain, 
although they were both very recent 
products of English shipyards, and were on 
their maiden voyage. But they were so 
lightly constructed, and so poorly built 
that they never got through without receiv- 
ing great dents in their sides. Poor stuff, 
they were ! 

The times when the "Emden" had one 
of her coal tenders alongside were always 
hours of danger for us, for the ship could 
not be in a state of readiness for action at 
such times. We knew full well that death 
was lurking at every hand. At any moment 
an enemy might appear on the horizon 
and come to attack us. Then there would 
be much for us to do before we could be 
ready to meet our foe. While we were 



THE "EMDEN" 



coaling, it was absolutely necessary to 
protect the guns by a close covering. 
Some of them had to be run in, for while 
projecting beyond the sides of the ship 
they were in danger of being damaged. It 
was highly advisable for us, therefore, to 
coal as speedily as possible. The men 
realized this fully, and always did their 
utmost. 

On the other hand, everything was done 
to make this necessarily strenuous labor as 
light as possible. At such times the steward 
always prepared an abundance of lemonade, 
which was poured into great half-tubs and 
set in readiness in the forward part of the 
ship. This drink was made more refreshing 
by the addition of ice. Cans and cans full 
of the cold lemonade were passed to the 
men who were at work. The ship's band 
played lively airs the while, to cheer them. 
A large slate was set up somewhere near 



OUR DAILY BREAD 189 

the middle of the ship, where it could be 
easily seen by every one, and on it the 
progress made in coaling was recorded. 
At the end of every quarter of an hour 
the number of tons taken aboard appeared 
on the slate in large figures written with 
white chalk. The amount accomplished 
by each watch was scored separately. 
The men of one watch were eager not to 
allow themselves to be outdone by the 
others. With great interest, therefore, 
every higher record made by the one group 
was noted by the men of the other, and 
when their turn came, strenuous efforts 
were made to surpass it. 

Aloft in the tops sat the lookouts, pro- 
vided with glasses, and faithfully searched 
the horizon with keen eyes for the least 
indication of a suspicious looking mast 
head, or speck of smoke. 

When the transfer of coal had progressed 



190 THE "EMDEN" 

far enough to allow the coal tender to pull 
off, there was still much to be done aboard 
the "Emden." First of all, the coal on 
the deck had to be piled into place; when 
so much was done, at least the greater 
part of the dirt had to be removed from 
our sleeping places. Then the men had 
to wash, get under the shower baths, and 
put on clean clothes. After that came 
supper, and then, — to sleep in the ham- 
mocks. Often enough, however, the weary- 
men had scarcely got to rest when a steamer 
would appear in sight, and they would be 
summoned to renewed exertion. It would 
then be hours before they could get to rest. 
Truly, the life we led was not one of ease ! 
But the thought that it might be otherwise 
never suggested itself to any one of us. 
On one occasion, on a night when the men 
had gone to rest after they had been 
strenuously at work for ten hours, our 



OUR DAILY BREAD 191 

Commander, at my suggestion, allowed a 
steamer to pass unmolested, because I 
told him that the men appeared to have 
reached the limit of their strength. When, 
on the following morning, the men learned 
of this, a murmur of disapproval arose 
among them. "We could have finished 
that one too/' they growled. 



VII 
DISTRESS OF THE NIBELUNGS 



Chapter VII 
DISTRESS OF THE NIBELUNGS 

Upon leaving Penang our Commander 
decided to run farther to the south for a 
while. It was to be expected that all 
shipping would be kept out of the Bay of 
Bengal for some time. Had not the "Em- 
den" given indisputable evidence of her 
presence in these waters by the destruction 
of the "Schemtschuk" and the "Mous- 
quet"? In all likelihood the search for 
the "Emden" in the Bay of Bengal would 
be more vigorously pushed now than ever 
before. On the other hand, the waters in 
the vicinity of Sunda Strait offered a more 
promising prospect as a hunting ground 
for the enemy's merchantmen. Ships of 
commerce coming from Australia hardly 
get into the Bay of Bengal at all, but 



196 THE "EMDEN" 

strike a course from Sunda Strait, or from 
West Australia directly across the ocean 
to Socotra, and thence into the Red Sea. 

The first thing for us to do now was to 
look up our coaling steamer "Buresk," 
which had been dismissed just before we 
got into Penang harbor. With a speed 
limit of barely eleven miles, the tender was 
not a desirable companion during an en- 
gagement. 

Without delay we found the "Buresk" at 
the appointed place. The account of our 
successful exploit was received aboard the 
"Buresk" with great enthusiasm. The 
two ships now proceeded southward at 
their usual speed of eleven miles. Soon 
the Dutch islands lying along the west 
coast of Sumatra came in sight. As mer- 
chant ships usually follow a route that 
takes them between these islands and the 
main coast of Sumatra, our Commander 



DISTRESS OF THE NIBELUNGS 197 



chose the narrow water ways of this region 
for his next sphere of action. Moreover, 
as the water is much more quiet between 
these islands than it is out at sea, it would 
be much easier to coal there. Furthermore, 
it was our opinion that these quiet waters 
were most likely to be frequented by 
Japanese and English torpedo boat de- 
stroyers. It was not improbable, therefore, 
that we might catch one or two of them 
there. 

While we were in the vicinity of the island 
of Sima-loer it was again time for the 
"Emden" to take on coal. The sea was 
very smooth, and so the task was quickly 
accomplished. Our ship lay at a distance 
of about eight nautical miles off shore, and 
quite beyond the limits of neutral waters 
therefore. 

Nevertheless, after a little while, a fishing 
boat propelled by motor was seen coming 



i 9 8 THE "EMDEN" 



toward us. The Dutch flag was flying at 
her mast head. She brought a Dutch 
official, who came aboard the "Emden," 
and introduced himself as the commandant 
of the island, and asked if we were not 
within the limit of territorial waters. If 
this was the case, he must request us to go 
farther out to sea, he said. 

Whether this was the real purpose of his 
coming, or whether he merely wished to 
have a little chat with us, I cannot say. 
A mere glance at the distance must have 
told him that we were considerably more 
than three nautical miles away from the 
shore. He remained with us for a while, 
and was invited into the presence of our 
Commander. 

From this Dutch official we learned that 
Portugal had declared war against Ger- 
many. This afforded us considerable merri- 
ment. We always enjoyed a joke. 



DISTRESS OF THE NIBELUNGS 199 

At the very beginning of our acquaint- 
ance I had unintentionally offended the 
commandant of the island. As he came 
alongside in his boat, I mistook him for a 
fisherman, and asked if he had any fish to 
sell. To this he replied by an indignant 
negative. However, this little misunder- 
standing did not affect our further ac- 
quaintance, and he seemed to feel very 
much at home in our mess. 

For a while, the "Emden" continued to 
cruise about in the vicinity of Sunda Strait. 
But not a ship came in sight. Evidently 
all traffic in this region had been discon- 
tinued. Ordinarily there is a great deal 
coming and going through Sunda Strait. 

It had now been fully two months that 
our ship had been beating about in the 
midst of her many foes. As has already 
been said, every man aboard the " Emden " 
was fully aware that she could not continue 



2oo THE "EMDEN" 



her activity indefinitely, and that sooner 
or later she must meet disaster. Condi- 
tions were steadily growing less favorable 
for us. When we first entered the Bay of 
Bengal we could count with certainty 
upon the circumstance that our enemies 
were not anticipating anything so audacious. 
For a while, therefore, we had little to fear 
from war ships, as there were hardly any 
in the Indian Ocean. Most of them were 
probably in the Pacific, engaged in the 
pursuit of our armored cruisers. Soon, 
however, we learned from newspaper re- 
ports, and other sources of information, 
that a considerable number of war ships, 
superior to our own, were searching for us. 
Much of this information we got from the 
crews of the prizes we took. 

We naturally supposed that England 
would follow her usual tactics of misrepre- 
sentation, and that therefore the people of 



DISTRESS OF THE NIBELUNGS 201 

India would be utterly deceived with regard 
to the true state of affairs. And so it was, 
for at first all the English-speaking Hindoos 
taken from the captured steamers had 
but one story to tell, — continuous German 
defeats. Later, however, there was a 
change of tone. One native of India, with 
whom we talked toward the end of Septem- 
ber, said that English newspapers declared 
that Germany was defeated. Now, how- 
ever, many newspapers of India pictured 
conditions very differently. But these 
papers were suppressed by the English, he 
said. Nevertheless, most of the men of 
India felt convinced that matters were 
not proceeding as favorably for the English 
as they would have the world believe. 
It was his opinion, moreover, that "Eng- 
land by and by finished." 

Another Hindoo related a peculiar inci- 
dent. He told us that two English cruisers, 



202 THE "EMDEN" 

having each two masts and two funnels, 
had for some time been held in the harbor 
of Colombo. While one of the two cruisers 
was doing guard duty out at sea, the other 
one remained in the harbor. At stated 
intervals the ships relieved each other, 
the one in the harbor going out to take the 
place of the one at sea. One day the 
cruiser that had been out at sea returned 
with only one funnel and one mast, badly 
battered up by shells, and with many 
wounded on board. From that day forth 
the second cruiser was not seen again. 
This may have been one of the many times 
when the "Emden" was destroyed. 

A Chinaman coming from Hong Kong 
related that two Japanese cruisers, badly 
damaged and with many wounded on 
board, had run into Hong Kong one 
day. 

The "Emden" had no share in this 



DISTRESS OF THE NIBELUNGS 203 

fight, nor, as we now know, did any of the 
other ships of the German squadron take 
part in it. 

All things considered, there was every 
reason to believe that the "Emden" was 
being vigorously pursued. The day when 
her career must come to an end could not, 
therefore, be far distant. The men aboard 
her did not allow this prospect to dampen 
their spirits, however. When the fateful 
moment had arrived, the enemy should be 
made to realize that in the "Emden" he 
had met a worthy foe. 

As not a ship made its appearance in 
the Sunda Strait, our Commander decided 
to find employment in destroying the 
wireless and cable station on Keeling Island. 
Telegraphic communication between Aus- 
tralia and the motherland had already 
suffered considerably at the hands of the 
other ships of our squadron. The station 



204 THE "EMDEN" 

at Keeling afforded the last opportunity 
for direct communication between Australia 
and England. Should this also be disabled, 
the only remaining connections would be 
by means of the neutral Dutch cables, via 
the East Indies. We naturally assumed, 
therefore, that the English had taken every 
precaution to defend this, the last station 
remaining to them. It would have been 
an easy matter for them to station a hundred 
men at Keeling for its defence, and so 
render futile any attack by a landing squad 
from the "Emden." 

In that case there would be nothing that 
the "Emden" could do but to shell the 
station, and inflict as much damage as 
possible in this way. It would not amount 
to much, however. The cables, in particu- 
lar, would remain intact, and for all the 
smaller necessary apparatus on shore there 
were probably duplicate parts in reserve, 



DISTRESS OF THE NIBELUNGS 205 



by the use of which the station could be 
put into running order only a few hours 
after the bombardment had ceased. The 
English had reason to believe also that if 
the island was effectively garrisoned, the 
"Emden" would refrain altogether from 
shelling the station. It would be the part 
of wisdom for the " Emden V Commander 
to be sparing of his ammunition, and it 
was not at all probable that he would use 
it for the purpose of temporarily crippling 
the telegraph service. 

As there was sufficient reason, therefore, 
to expect a vigorous defence of the island, 
all necessary measures were taken to render 
the proposed landing expedition as effective 
as possible. The four machine guns which 
the "Emden" carried were taken along. 
A squad of fifty men was mustered. In 
addition to the machine guns the men took 
with them twenty-nine rifles and twenty- 



206 THE "EMDEN" 

four revolvers. More than fifty men could 
not be spared from the "Emden" for 
landing purposes. Her crew was too small. 
Our three prizes, the " Pontoporros," "Ex- 
ford," and "Buresk" had all been manned 
from the " Emden V crew, besides which a 
few of our men had been needed on the 
" Markomannia." 

On the night from the eighth to the ninth 
of November, 1914, the "Emden" and her 
tender, the "Buresk," lay fifty nautical 
miles to the west of Keeling. The coal 
tender "Exford" had been sent to a 
given point of meeting farther out at sea. 
It was quite possible that we would find 
some English cruisers lying at anchor in 
Keeling harbor. In that case the " Buresk" 
would, most likely, be discovered and 
captured, while the "Emden," in the hope 
of being able to continue her activity for a 
while longer, would seek to avoid the 



DISTRESS OF THE NIBELUNGS 207 

encounter with a greatly superior foe. She 
could then find her other coaling steamer 
somewhere out of sight of the enemy. 

That night the "Buresk" received orders 
to remain at a certain point, fifty nautical 
miles to westward of the island, and not 
to proceed to Keeling until ordered by 
wireless to do so. After accomplishing the 
destruction of the station, our Commander 
intended, if everything went smoothly, to 
coal in Keeling harbor. 

At sunrise, on the morning of the ninth 
day of November, the "Emden" lay just 
outside the entrance to Port Refuge, the 
anchorage for Keeling Island. The way 
into the harbor was a rather difficult one, 
as it led in and out among the reefs; but 
we found it, and the "Emden" dropped 
anchor. The landing squad was ready and 
waiting. The men got into the boats at 
once, and put off for the shore at just half- 



208 THE "EMDEN" 

past six in the morning. They landed 
without encountering resistance of any 
kind. 

In two hours the work on shore was 
done. The landing squad was just about 
to reembark when the "Emden" signalled 
by searchlight: "Hurry your work." 
Almost immediately after the signal had 
been given, the "Emden" sounded her 
siren. This meant danger. Our men of 
the landing squad saw the "Emden" sud- 
denly weigh anchor, turn, and run out of 
the harbor. The attempt made by our 
boats to overtake their ship by striking 
the shortest course toward her, although 
it led directly across the reef, proved of 
no avail. Soon afterward the "Emden" 
ran up her battle flags, and opened fire 
upon an enemy not visible to the men in 
the boats. Great water spouts, caused by 
the plunging of shells into the sea close to 



DISTRESS OF THE NIBELUNGS 209 

the "Emden," gave unmistakable evidence 
that an enemy, though unseen, was near. 

Ashore on Keeling Island, and unable to 
do the least thing to help their ship and 
their comrades, our men of the landing 
squad beheld with bitterness the unequal 
fight that now ensued. 

The "Emden's" antagonist was the 
Anglo-Australian cruiser "Sidney." She 
was half again as large as the "Emden," 
built five years later, was her superior in 
speed, protected by side armor, which the 
"Emden" was not, was equipped with 
guns that, although in number no more to 
the broadside than the "Emden" carried, 
were of a caliber that was one and a half 
times as great, — conditions under which 
there could be but one outcome of the 
battle. For the "Emden" the hour of 
destiny had struck. 

Soon the two ships were engaged in a 



210 THE "EMDEN" 

running fight, all the while keeping at a 
distance of from four to five thousand 
meters from each other. From ship to 
ship sped the iron missiles in full broad- 
sides. At the outset it appeared that the 
enemy was suffering considerably. The 
"Emden's" first salvos found their mark 
forward in the hostile cruiser. The marks- 
manship of the English was not much to 
boast of. For a time, not a telling shot 
had struck the "Emden," although our 
gunners had given a good account of them- 
selves. But after a while, a well-placed 
salvo struck aft on the "Emden/' The 
havoc that the "Sidney's" shells of great 
caliber wrought on our unarmored cruiser 
was tremendous. A great blaze started 
up under the poop. For a quarter of an 
hour the flames leaped upward to a height 
of from twenty to twenty-five meters. 
The cloud of dense grey smoke that rose 




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DISTRESS OF THE NIBELUNGS 211 

from the ship was mingled with white 
steam, an indication that the steam pipes 
on the starboard side of the ship had been 
damaged. Undaunted by the severe injury 
that she had suffered, the "Emden" now 
squarely faced her assailant. Putting her 
helm hard about, she turned upon her 
enemy and took up the battle. 

Unintermittently the forward guns of 
our ship poured forth their shells. A few 
minutes after the "Emden" had turned 
upon her foe, the hostile cruiser also turned 
to starboard, and ran away from our ship. 
As in the meantime we on shore had 
observed that several of the "EmdenV 
shots had hit their mark, there arose within 
us a faint hope that the enemy might in 
some way have received a fatal blow. 
Evidently this was not the case, however. 
Although the "Sidney" ran off at high 
speed, she soon turned about. Un- 



212 THE "EMDEN" 

doubtedly the purpose of this manoeuvre 
was simply to increase her fighting distance 
from the "Emden," in order to take ad- 
vantage of the greater caliber of her guns, 
and at the same time to put herself beyond 
the reach of the "Emden's" less powerful 
guns. » 

Meanwhile the "Emden" had suffered 
still further serious damage. While turning 
about to make a dash at her foe, a shell 
tore away her forward funnel. Like a 
huge block it lay across the forward part 
of the ship. Almost at the same instant 
another telling shot carried off the foremast, 
and swept it overboard. When my eyes 
beheld this, I knew that at least one of 
my comrades had lost his life, — the officer 
doing observation duty up in the top of 
the foremast. 

And still the fire continued to rage on 
board the "Emden," although it began 



DISTRESS OF THE NIBELUNGS 213 

to show signs of abating. It became more 
of a smouldering fire, and the flames gave 
way to a thick cloud of smoke and fumes, 
apparently the result of efforts to quench 
the fire. In a running fight, keeping side 
by side, and firing incessantly with full 
salvos upon each other, the two contending 
ships disappeared beyond the horizon. 

The fight had begun at half-past eight 
in the morning. The landing squad from 
the "Emden," was now getting the 
"Ayesha," an old schooner that they had 
found lying at anchor in the harbor, ready 
to put to sea. In case the "Emden" did 
not return, the men intended to leave the 
island on this little schooner. During the 
the course of the day the "Emden," 
still fighting, came into view a number of 
times, but always so far distant that she 
could not be recognized. At intervals the 
"Sidney's" great cloud of black smoke, 



214 THE "EMDEN 



due to the Australian coal that she was 
burning, came in sight. From this, the 
men of the landing squad knew that the 
fight was still in progress. 

Toward evening, just before darkness 
set in, the ships came in sight again. They 
were both still firing. The last that the 
landing squad saw of the fight was the 
"Emden" slowly steering an easterly course 
just before sunset. The ship was almost 
entirely below the horizon. Only the one 
funnel still left her, and the top of the 
highest mast were visible; this was just 
enough to indicate to us the speed at which 
she was moving, and the direction in which 
she was going. The visible distance from 
Keeling to the horizon is about eight or 
ten nautical miles. It is clear, therefore, 
that shortly before sunset the "Emden" 
was still afloat, and not more than eight or 
ten nautical miles distant from South 



DISTRESS OF THE NIBELUNGS 215 

Keeling. The "Sidney" was somewhat 
nearer to the island. Her masts, funnels, 
superstructure, and upper deck could all 
be seen. Both ships were still firing, 
although the "Emden's" fire was inter- 
mittent and not strong. Either her am- 
munition, upon which the bombardment of 
Madras and the fight at Penang had made 
heavy demands, was giving out, or else the 
majority of her guns had been silenced. 

At sunset the "Sidney" ceased firing, 
and was seen coming back on a north- 
westerly course. The "Emden" was steer- 
ing toward the east. 

Gradually the distance between the ships 
grew greater and greater, until at last they 
were beyond the reach of each other's 
guns. The fight was over. 

The sun set. Darkness fell. Like a black 
shroud the night settled down upon both 
ships. 



216 THE "EMDEN" 

On shore the landing squad was getting 
ready to leave Keeling on the "Ayesha," 
and go in search of the " Emden." 

And so, for nearly ten hours, our ship 
had maintained an unequal fight against a 
greatly superior enemy. How great is the 
advantage of superiority in armor, speed, 
and caliber can, generally speaking, be 
appreciated only by those who are familiar 
with naval affairs. 

On land an inferior force, strategically 
disposed, and taking advantage of local con- 
ditions, well ensconced and protected by 
wire entanglements, with masked batteries 
and machine guns, can no doubt hold a de- 
cidedly superior attacking force at bay for 
some time, and under most favorable con- 
ditions may even prevent the latter from 
accomplishing its purpose, — for instance, 
from breaking a way through. Under such 
circumstances the assailants, even when 



DISTRESS OF THE NIBELUNGS 217 

greatly superior in numbers, cannot gain 
any special advantage. Superiority in fight- 
ing strength is offset by the favorable lay 
of the land, of which the weaker force can 
take advantage. 

Not so at sea. There is no shelter to be 
found there. Granted that there is equality 
of personnel, the battle is decided by the 
size of the caliber, the quality of the armor, 
and the degree of speed possible. 

When these factors are taken into con- 
sideration, the "Emden" did marvelously 
well. Unarmored, less speedy, considerably 
smaller, and carrying much less heavy guns 
than did her armored antagonist, she 
maintained the battle for nearly half a 
day, until darkness put an end to it. 

The men of the landing squad, now aboard 
the "Ayesha," saw nothing more of the 
" Emden," although they looked for her all 
through the night. Not until three weeks 



2i8 THE "EMDEN" 

later, when they arrived at Padang, did they 
learn what had been the fate of their ship. 

The tale is told. The "Emden" is no 
more. On the rocky reefs of North Keeling 
she found a grave. But as long as the 
Monsoon sighs among the tops of the tall 
pines on the lonely little island in the dis- 
tant Indian Ocean, and, mingling its voice 
with the murmur of the shining white surf 
that breaks on the shore, chants a dirge 
for the "Emden," so long shall live, in song 
and story, the Flying Dutchman, the brave 
little German ship that for months was the 
terror of her enemies, in 1914, during the 
great war of the nations, in the mighty 
struggle for the freedom of the seas. 

Ship without harbor, knowing no ease, 
" Emden," flying over the seas — 
German laurel is wound round thy mast, 
Curses of England are chasing thee fast ; 



DISTRESS OF THE NIBELUNGS 219 

Ship after ship thou sinkest alone, 

And the sea, the sea, the sea is thine own. 

Ship without harbor, knowing no ease, 
Glorious " Emden," pride of the seas — 
Thou hast succumbed to an enemy's blow? 
Destroyed by flames — the work of the foe ? 
Thou hast been sunk in the depth of the sea ? 
Thou — thou art dead ? Nay, that never can 
be! 

Ship without harbor, knowing no ease, 
Unforgettable queen of the seas ! 
"Emden," thou never, never canst die: 
Over the seas thy shadow will fly, 
Ever to make the enemy quail, 
Ever in German hearts to sail! 

Maria Weinajsd 

English version by Margarete Miinsterberg. Poem by Maria 
Weinand. 



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